The Price We Must Pay
by Winekita
Summary: Leo always believed the price for opening the fortune cookie had been sending Percy and Annabeth to Tartarus. He was wrong. Very wrong. Set between HoH and BoO. Might be slightly OOC.
1. The Warnings We Must Sense

_**Alright. Here we go. This idea hit me a few weeks back and would not leave me ALONE! Seriously. During work I actually sat down and wrote down a piece of the idea on a little pad just to satisfy the muse picking at my brain.**_

_**To clarify my reasoning behind this story: I feel like sending Percabeth to Tartarus wasn't Leo's price. It feels a little too indirect, even though the Arai thing would probably make Nemesis happy. So, I thought: What would she actually want from Leo? Then this happened.**_

_**I'm a little nervous about this story, to be honest. The first few chapters are gonna be a bit fast (I suck at pacing at the beginning when I have the whole story thought out) and Leo might seem a bit OOC later on. Please bear with that when it comes. There won't be much comedy in this story either, sorry. D:**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or HoO and their characters.**_

_**So, without further ado, please enjoy "**_The Price We Must Pay**_"_**

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**One: The Warnings We Must Sense**

_(set between HoH and BoO)_

***~Leo third person POV~***

Leo Valdez knew something was off.

As he sat in the engine room, tinkering away at random things that needed his attention, Leo couldn't help but feel…different. For the past few days, for some reason, his left arm wouldn't cooperate properly. He'd tell it to reach for a screwdriver a couple inches away and it would just. Not. Work. Leo had to concentrate to make it move.

Eventually he would give up on whatever it was he was doing and lift his sleeve up to inspect his arm. But nothing was there. His scrawny arm heralded nothing but the usual scratches and scars from workshop accidents and monster attacks. None of them hurt, of course—they were all weeks old, some even months old.

This had been an off and on feeling. It was mostly when he was so focused on his tinkering, never when he was around his friends.

Leo sighed and scratched his head. What in Hades was wrong with his stupid arm? He thought a few moments longer than he usually did and almost panicked.

He repeated various sentences to himself: "The sky is blue", "She sells seashells", things like that.

He felt his face, smiling and frowning, testing out if anything was drooping.

Nothing out of the ordinary, besides the heart attack he nearly had scaring himself. Nothing that constituted him having a real panic attack, though.

_Okay_, he thought, steadying his breathing. _Not having a stroke, either. Not that I'd want that anyway…So what is wrong with me?_ He glared at his arm._ Move, stupid!_

His arm did as he asked. No struggle. It acted just like his right arm did. Well, fine then!

Leo got up and shuffled over to his room. _Maybe my body is just telling me to go to bed…It's starting to get creative on me, huh?_

The son of Hephaestus sat down on his bed. His thoughts trailed away to Ogygia again, like they normally did. He missed Calypso…

Leo shook his head, exhaustion catching up to him. He laid down, hoping to dream about her again. The last few days he had had good dreams, mostly of him and Calypso walking down the beach, having a picnic in the hills, or even working together on a random project in his make-shift forge. He treasured those dreams. _Maybe I'll be lucky and get another one_, he thought hopefully as he drifted off into unconsciousness.

* * *

Leo was standing, fully submerged in darkness. He spun around. No light? Great. Leo lit up his hand in flames, but the light never reached past his body. Outstanding.

Suddenly something hit his foot. Leo bent down and froze. It was a fortune cookie.

"No," he gasped.

"Yes," came the revenge goddess's voice. "The time is almost upon you, Leo Valdez. Your debt to me shall soon be paid."

"I paid it!" he yelled into thin air. "Sending Percy and Annabeth into Tartarus was the price! I caused that!"

"Silly child," her voice sneered. "That was not my doing, nor was it yours. It would have happened regardless of your being there."

Leo shivered. Nemesis's voice seeped into his skin. It haunted him. He wished he could see her, because this voice-in-the-dark thing was creepier than Nico di Angelo popping out of the shadows.

"No," she continued. Leo could feel her smiling coldly. "Your price was yet to be determined. Now I know what I want."

The fortune cookie suddenly ended up in his left hand. It burned into his skin, melting into his palm. Leo never thought he could feel burns but boy, was he wrong! He screamed in pain as the cookie was seared into his hand. When the pain subsided, he inspected his palm. Right in the middle was a small tattoo of a black fortune cookie.

"When the time comes," Nemesis said coolly, "the cookie will break. There is no choice this time, son of Hephaestus. It _will_ happen. What you felt before was merely a warning. You cannot avoid it..."

* * *

_**A/N: Okay...pretty obvious? If you don't understand what his price is yet, you will soon...D: I love how I'm more nervous about this story than with Papi! I'm weird like that...**_


	2. The Battles We Must Fight

_**I do not own PJO or HoO**_

_**Let's get this going! *fistpumps the air***_

* * *

**Two: The Battles We Must Fight**

***~Leo POV~***

Leo woke up screaming. He rubbed his head, which was beaded with sweat.

"Oh, gods," he mumbled. "Why?"

He lifted his left hand up. There it was: the black fortune cookie was tattooed onto his palm. It didn't hurt now, but Leo could still remember the pain from the dream. He rubbed his palm sadly.

"My price," he said. "Please don't be what I think it will be…"

But he knew it would be. Nemesis had made it _very_ clear what she wanted. It was tattooed clearly on his body. He began to dread when and how it would happen.

"I hope it doesn't hurt," Leo mumbled. "I _really_ hope it doesn't hurt—"

His thoughts were interrupted by the ship lurching to the side. He bonked his head on the wall next to him.

"Ow." He rubbed his swelling goose-egg before sprinting out of his room.

As he rushed down the hall, he could hear the commotion. Sounded like screeching. He ran faster.

Within seconds he shot up the stairs and barreled onto the deck, panting.

"Well, hello harpies!" Leo exclaimed as one of the said bird-ladies swooped down to grab him. He dodged and took out a hammer from his tool belt. When another harpy came down, claws extended, he set the hammer ablaze and smashed her into a flaming ball of dust.

The rest of the crew were handling their own harpies pretty well. Frank had turned into an eagle, and Jason was creating a wind vacuum to prevent the whole flock from coming in at once.

Piper was shooting sunflower seeds—interesting choice—at the ones that escaped the vacuum.

Percy and Annabeth were side-by-side, fighting off their bird-ladies with matching bronze and ivory sword strikes.

Hazel was trying to steady the ship as best she could. Since it was her turn to drive (Leo taught everyone the basics after Coach Hedge left) Leo had agreed it would be better to be in the sky. Of course he had to be proven wrong…

Another harpy swooped down and swiped at Leo. He tried to duck, but somehow the harpy had anticipated his dodge and stuck her claws into his chest. He flew backwards, gasping in pain. Leo swung his hammer, feeling relieved at the cloud of dust that settled onto him in moments. His relief was short-lived as his chest heaved in agony. _Shit_, he cursed to himself. _I think that bitch cut me deep! Good thing that wasn't the side with my heart…_

He stood up shakily. Was the air getting thinner? Leo struggled to find his breath momentarily, but eventually he got his second wind and looked around.

In a couple of minutes, they had dwindled the flock substantially. Leo was just about to whoop in victory when a pair of huge claws dug deep into his shoulders. He screamed as he was lifted up into the air. The others froze, their faces heralding fear.

_Why aren't they doing anything?_

He whipped his head around and found Jason. The son of Jupiter looked like he was about to strike the Manticore with a bolt, but for some reason he hovered back, a look of fear plastered on his face.

"Hello?" Leo yelled in desperation. "Supreme Commander Leo needs help! Get this harpy off me!"

"That's not a harpy," he heard Hazel yell. "That's a Manticore!"

_Oh, joy!_ Leo twisted his head and finally saw the giant man-faced lion snarling down at him. It was still trying to escape the air vacuum that Jason had setup earlier. Leo found it was getting difficult to breathe again. He couldn't tell if that was from the vacuum or from the harpy puncture. Regardless, he held his breath and willed fire to come forth.

The Manticore didn't appreciate its paws being burned. It nearly dropped Leo—more like it fumbled him.

Leo saw spots dance in his eyes. His lungs burned for air. The fire disappeared and he inhaled as much oxygen as he could, which wasn't much and it hurt a lot. The Manticore roared (that didn't help the lessening of oxygen situation in the slightest) and a sudden piercing pain in his arm made Leo yelp and drop his hammer. He held his breath again and caught fire one last time.

This time the Manticore dropped him.

Leo fell through the air. The spots in his vision got bigger and darker. This whole situation of free-falling felt oddly familiar. Much like when Shrimpzilla dropped him and Hazel. Leo figured there wouldn't be any fish-centaurs to save him this time.

His arm began to tingle. _Is it choosing now to act up again? I'm not even moving..._

Leo never even registered Jason catching him. He still felt like he was falling.

Leo didn't see the lightning bolt take down the already-burned monster lion, but he did see the charred remains of the Manticore fall into the sea below before passing out from exhaustion.

* * *

_**A/N: Beware. It is coming. D:**_


	3. The Decisions We Must Make

_**-Sorry, had to change something, so I apologize for the resubmission of the chapter-**_

_**This chapter.**_

_**Gods, this chapter!**_

_**D:**_

_**Fair warning, you might be screaming at me by the time you read through the chapter. I'm not very nice to Leo in this one, and it kinda hurt to write it. :( You have been warned...**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.**_

* * *

**Three: The Decisions We Must Make**

***~Annabeth POV~***

Annabeth watched as Jason released the air vacuum and landed on the deck of the _Argo II_ with Leo in his arms. The son of Hephaestus was passed out from using too much fire in one shot. Annabeth figured Percy could relate. Said son of Poseidon helped Jason steadily lay Leo down, propping his head up against some coiled rope.

Annabeth brought out some ambrosia and force fed it to Leo. Leo coughed and sputtered. His face contorted in pain and he screamed. That was a type of scream Annabeth never wanted to hear come out of _anyone's_ mouth. Leo arched his back, like he had been shocked. Percy was pressing down on the son of Hephaestus's shoulders with all his might.

"Oh gods," Leo muttered after the screaming died down. "It hurts…"

Percy tried to hold him steady, sweat trickling down his cheeks.

Annabeth noticed something black on Leo's palm. "What's that?" she asked, pointing to the hand. It looked like a tattoo of something. She wanted to look, but someone beat her to it.

Hazel—who had given the wheel to Frank—stooped down, studied the hand and gasped. "Oh, gods…"

"What is it?"

Hazel lifted Leo's shaking hand and showed the palm to the group. "It's a fortune cookie. It's a symbol for Nemesis. Leo had to make a deal with her a while back. The access code for his Archimedes Sphere—the problem he couldn't solve—for a price. He confided in me a while back; he thought the price was sending Percy and Annabeth to Tartarus."

"That wasn't his fault," Annabeth said slowly. "How on earth could he think that was his fault?"

"Leo was really upset about it," Hazel said. She gazed back at the tattoo. "But now…I don't think it was his price."

"I remember the last guy that made a deal with Nemesis," Percy muttered. "Ethan Nakamura. He gave her his eye."

Leo arched his back and screamed again, this time in Spanish: "_Se quema! __Oh dios, se quema mucho! __Haz que se detenga!_"

Annabeth had no idea what he was saying, but it didn't sound very good. Leo struggled against Percy, his right hand flying towards his left arm. Percy, with great difficulty, lifted Leo's sleeve, his eyes widening as he saw a nasty cut on the side of his friend's forearm. It was already turning green.

"The ambrosia isn't working," Percy assessed. "He must've gotten hit with the Manticore poison. We need to cure it."

Annabeth examined the slowly growing infection. Leo's skin was beginning to fester and curl out around the wound. "I…" she felt like she was slowly shutting down. "We don't…" What was wrong with her? She needed to take charge of the situation immediately! But, seeing Leo's gradually worsening wound just stopped her in her tracks every time she tried to think.

Hazel looked like she was about to throw up. Piper had already fled downstairs with Jason at her heels. Annabeth hoped they were going down to the infirmary.

_The infirmary._

Annabeth turned to her boyfriend. They locked eyes. He seemed to understand immediately.

"Help me lift him," Percy said as he lifted Leo's torso up. Annabeth held his legs as they made their way down to the infirmary.

It was slow going. Leo had once or twice tried to catch fire in his unconscious state, screaming bloody murder in Spanish. But, he was weakening. The two powerful bursts during the fight had drained him, and the wound on his arm was probably sapping his strength, too. Blood trailed behind the group, more blood than there probably should've been, which made Annabeth wonder if there was another wound somewhere.

But her eyes were locked on the floor as she walked backwards to the infirmary.

Leo kept on screaming, though. He just kept screaming things Annabeth couldn't understand. There were points when she thought even he wouldn't understand what he was saying.

_Note to self: When Leo starts screaming in Spanish, get help immediately…_

They finally got him onto the infirmary bed, setting the poor boy down _very_ gently. Annabeth finally looked at him again. She felt herself pale. Leo's arm, even in the few minutes since Annabeth had gotten a good look at it, had gotten so much worse. The poison was spreading. Annabeth could see it slowly move up though his veins—which were bulging out of his skin. His hand had already been affected, his skin and fingertips slowly beginning to turn a sickly shade of green and black respectively. The wound itself was already a deep purple/black.

Annabeth was shaking. She knew it had been too long. The poison had settled into his bloodstream now. "It's…it's already gone too far. We can't save him."

Hazel suddenly materialized next to Percy. She touched Leo's hand gingerly before speaking: "Yes we can."

Percy looked like he was about to protest when Hazel cut him off. "Leo's price isn't going to be his life. Nemesis wouldn't do that with Gaea reawakening so soon. She knows how important he is in the prophecy. It'd have to be something else."

She turned to Jason, who had come down to the infirmary with Piper after all. "Jason, rip his shirt off. Piper," she said, turning to the dumbfounded daughter of Aphrodite. "Reach into his tool belt and see if you can get a couple pairs of fire-proof gloves."

The duo set to work. Jason took out a small knife from the infirmary drawer and started cutting Leo's shirt off. Annabeth felt her knees almost give way. Leo's upper arm was already beginning to show signs of infection, his veins beginning to bulge and his skin turning green. But that wasn't the only thing wrong.

Leo's chest had been shot through. A few holes the size of harpy claws were present on Leo's right pectoral. One of them, the biggest, was extremely deep. Blood poured out of it like a waterfall. Annabeth was sure one of the harpies had punctured his lung.

Piper pulled out the gloves and handed a pair to Hazel.

After Hazel put them on, she said, "We'll deal with his arm first, then get to the chest wound. Let's hope he doesn't bleed out."

"Bleed out?" Jason asked. "What do you mean deal with his arm first?"

Hazel was silent as she went searching into the drawers. After a couple seconds, she came up with a saw.

"No!" Percy yelled. "You can't be serious!"

There were two things Annabeth had a hard time believing. The first was that Percy was freaking out and Hazel was being calm about this: it was like a reversal of roles. The second was what Hazel was proposing they do. Annabeth almost puked at the thought.

"W-we have to," Hazel said, her voice shaking. "If we don't have any cure right this second, then this is the only way to stop the poison from killing him." She looked at Piper. "Get a bunch of rags ready, and get a bit for him to bite down on. Annabeth, Jason," she looked at each demigod in turn. "Put on the gloves and hold him down."

Annabeth reluctantly put on the fire-proof gloves. She set her hands firmly on Leo's good shoulder. Jason put his on Leo's chest, over the puncture wounds to hopefully stop the bleeding for a moment. Leo groaned in agony. The poison was halfway up his arm, now, and his whole lower arm and hand had turned completely black. The wound was oozing black sludge that Annabeth could only imagine must have been blood at one point.

The only thing wrong with this already wrong picture was the fortune cookie tattoo. It seemed to have turned a lighter shade of black against Leo's festered hand. Actually, its shape seemed distorted…almost looking like it was cracking open…

Piper pulled as many rags and bandages as she could out of the tool belt (which was a lot) and placed the bit in Leo's mouth. She stepped back to let Hazel through. Hazel nodded toward Annabeth. Percy looked pale, so Annabeth told him to take Piper outside.

Hazel placed the saw right on the spot where Leo's shoulder bones connected. She held her breath—as did everyone in the room—and pushed down.

* * *

_**A/N: *shivers violently* Gods, such an awful concept, isn't it? Please don't kill me, I promise Leo WILL get a happy ending! Just not anytime soon (obviously)...**_

_**Spanish: "It burns! Oh gods, it burns so much! Make it stop!"**_

_**I do not know Spanish, so that came straight from Google Translate. If it's wrong, please let me know! D:**_


	4. The Realities We Must Face

**_Your reactions to the last chapter made me feel so good, even if that chapter was not a good situation for Leo. Yes, indeed: Poor Leo D:_**

**_Fair warning, the medical jargon in this story is complete and utter bullshit. I'm just writing what I think the Seven would do in this situation, seeing as NONE of them are children of Apollo. So, if you are a RL doctor and are yelling at me all like "WHAT!? Why would you do that!? Never do that! Why don't you do this (insert correct form of treatment here) instead!? You're an idiot author!"_**

**_I give. Zero shits. Because in my version of this world, this works! :I_**

**_Anyway...Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize as canon!_**

* * *

**Four: The Realities We Must Face**

***~Piper POV~***

Piper sat outside the infirmary with Percy. They both crouched against the wall, hugging each other. Piper couldn't be bothered that it wasn't her boyfriend hugging her. Having _someone_ there to keep a hold of her made her feel a little better.

Key words: a little.

Piper wanted to jump off the ship and escape the horrible situation they were in.

Leo's screams echoed off the walls of the ship. It felt like the _Argo II_ groaned and creaked in response to its commander's distress. Piper tried to shut out the screams by covering her ears, but her best friend's cries penetrated her eardrums and shot her through the brain. Percy looked like he wasn't faring much better.

_He's gone through Tartarus,_ Piper thought. _And yet he can't deal with Leo losing his arm like this…_

Well, she wasn't one to talk. Every time she registered screaming Piper would start hyperventilating. Piper couldn't believe this was happening. She couldn't believe the next time she saw Leo, he would only have one arm!

"Stupid Nemesis," she mumbled. "Why couldn't she leave Leo alone? He needs his hands! He'll die without both of them!"

Percy hugged tighter. Piper appreciated it considerably. After a few more minutes, Leo's screaming had turned to a faint whimper, and in a few minutes it was nothing but a distant memory.

The demigods composed themselves and slowly peeked their heads inside. Annabeth, Jason and Hazel were covered in blood, Hazel the most. She didn't look very thrilled about it, either; she actually looked as if she was about to puke.

Jason was extremely pale, leaning up against the counter with his back to the crowd of demigods, his head bowed.

Annabeth was the only one doing something: she was dressing Leo's shoulder, cleaning it with bloodying rags and wrapping and re-wrapping the wound. After she wrapped the shoulder, Annabeth would rotate to the chest wound, applying pressure and keeping it clean as best she could. When she was semi-satisfied, Annabeth would rotate back to the shoulder and redress it.

Leo was breathing heavily, unconscious. His normally natural tan skin was almost Nico-level pale. He had lost so much blood. His unconscious face was contorted in agony, perspiration making his whole body glisten. Tear tracks stained his cheeks. And then of course there was his arm...

Leo's black arm—his _severed_, black arm, Piper realized with a jolt—was lying off to the side, near Jason on the counter. Jason kept glancing at it, shuddering. He was an ex-Praetor. A Roman son of Jupiter. And he was broken. _Everybody has a breaking point_, Piper assessed._ And I think everyone in this room's was Leo losing his arm..._

Suddenly, the arm began to glow. Jason stumbled away with wide eyes. Percy and Hazel gasped. Annabeth glanced up, but kept on with her job. Piper had never seen the girl so focused before, even when she was thinking up battle strategies. But then again, Piper'd never seen what was happening to Leo's arm before.

It lifted into the air and hovered about a foot off the counter. Then, in a flash of white light, it was gone. On the counter, in the exact spot the arm had been, lay a fortune cookie.

Hazel gasped when she saw it and asked Jason to toss it over. He did just that and went back to leaning on the counter. Hazel broke the cookie and read the contents out loud:

_Pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Valdez._

_~Nemesis~_

She threw the cookie onto the ground and smashed it, then ripped the slip of paper into tiny pieces. Hazel set her hand on Leo's head for a second before stomping out of the room with a murderous look in her eye.

Piper shuffled closer to the unconscious son of Hephaestus, trying not to look at the space where his arm should have been. She felt someone push her aside.

Percy had regained his composure, it seemed. While he took up Annabeth's job of wrapping the patient's shoulder, Annabeth began hooking Leo up to some IVs that led to hanging packets of blood and placed an oxygen mask over his mouth and nose. The tubes on the mask were connected to a life support system underneath Leo's bed. It occurred to Piper that his breathing was getting shallower now that the arm had disappeared. She couldn't help but think that one of his lungs might have been punctured. She felt herself tense up.

"Leo," she whispered, taking his only hand in hers. It was clammy and cold. "Please stay with us…We need you. We all love you. Stay here. Stay…"

She never figured out if it was her (unintentional) charmspeak or the oxygen mask that had stabilized him. All she could see was his body relaxing slightly, his breath returning to a steady rhythm. Annabeth stuck another IV, this time leading to a completely different substance, in his arm and smiled gratefully at Piper.

Jason had gotten better as well, finally getting up the nerve to stand up straight and look at Leo. His eyes were clouded with pain as he looked at his best friend. After a couple minutes, Jason slowly walked over to Piper, kissed her, and stumbled out of the infirmary. Piper let him go; he needed some space. _We all do…_

"_Te extraño…_"

The whimper was so faint Piper almost missed it. She gripped Leo's hand tighter. Was he awake already?

"_Te extraño_," he whimpered again through the oxygen mask, slightly louder—just slightly. "_Te extr-raño…T-te a-amo…_"

Leo hadn't opened his eyes. He was deep in a coma yet he had spoken to them. Piper had no idea what he was saying, either. All she knew was that Leo spoke Spanish, sometimes switching from English to Spanish when he got scared or excited. It was a lot like his fire powers—sometimes fueled by pure emotions and lack of control. She had heard him on those nights in Bunker 9 (she had gone to check on him) speaking the second language in his sleep, having one-sided conversations.

Piper and Percy glanced at Annabeth. If anyone would know Spanish on the ship besides Leo, it would be her, right?

But the daughter of Athena shook her head. "No idea."

Percy nodded in understanding and continued to redress Leo's shoulder. This was about the sixth time he'd done it since taking up the job his girlfriend had started, and judging by the lack of blood pouring out this time, it would probably be the last time he'd do it for a while.

"Alright," Percy announced as he finished. His voice was shaking slightly. "We need to keep a steady eye on him until he wakes up. Annabeth, do we have plenty of ambrosia and nectar?"

"Yes we do," she answered.

"Did you give him some already?"

"Of course we did," Annabeth retorted. "As much as we could, y'know, after…"

Piper was grateful she let that hang. She unconsciously let her gaze drift over Leo's bandaged chest to his shoulder stump—gods that was painful to think about!

Annabeth blinked a few times and squared her shoulders. "So, now we need to set up a 'Leo watch'. I'll take the first watch, keep him stable. I may not be a child of Apollo, but I sure as Hades know how to take care of a patient. I hooked him up to the life support since one of his lungs was failing. The ambrosia's worked a little bit, but I think there's a too many big wounds for it to heal all at once. The lung is still critical, but at least now it can handle a steady, controlled flow of oxygen. Let's just be thankful he didn't drown in his own blood."

All three demigods shuddered.

"And, in case you're wondering, Piper…" Annabeth turned to look at Piper. "I just hooked Leo into some heavy sedatives. I read somewhere it can keep critical conditioned patients' functions at a minimum, and that helps the body out a lot. When he stabilizes, we can take him off the sedatives and he'll wake up—"

Piper didn't want to say it, but it had slipped. "What if he never wakes up?"

The room was silent, save for Leo's now minuscule, drugged breathing. Piper elaborated: "What if you take him off the sedatives and he just slips into a real coma? What if he doesn't stabilize and just…"

Annabeth held the daughter of Aphrodite's shoulders firmly. "Piper," she said in a calm, yet strained, voice. "Try to avoid those thoughts. He can and _will_ wake up. He'll do it as soon as the sedatives wear off. He's Leo Valdez, Piper. He can survive this."

Piper wiped away a stray tear. "Let's hope so."

* * *

**_A/N: As I said, I am in NO WAY a doctor, so what I wrote is completely out my ass. Please don't judge that too harshly... :(_**

**_The Spanish will be explained in the next chapter, so don't freak out if you don't understand it (cause I know I wouldn't!)._**


	5. The Secrets We Must Discover

_**Qwerty (because you aren't logged in so I can't PM you): Thank you for that huge review! :D It makes me feel so good! And I'll take that into consideration, the initial Leo thoughts I mean. I thought the price was easier to guess, but I'll see what I can do later after I post all the chapters. On that note, the story is actually finished on my comp, I'm just being mean and posting the chapters one by one :3 I hope it doesn't turn out to be too over-dramatic to you in a couple of chapters, so now I'm a little nervous about them. But technically, I DID classify this under Drama, so...*shrugs***_

_**And no, sorry, Calypso isn't that big of a factor in the story (at least not as big as you think). Once again, thank you for that. Your opinion is greatly appreciated :)**_

_***inhales***_

_**Okay, that's done. Now for the disclaimer: **__**I own nothing you recognize as canon.**_

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**Five: The Secrets We Must Discover**

_(Two days later. Leo is still in the infirmary.)_

***~Percy POV~***

Annabeth had woken Percy up, telling him it was his turn for watch. In his half-asleep haze, Percy momentarily thought, _It's not my turn…I had watch last night. It's Leo's turn right now, then Jason's…_

Then the past two days' events hit him full force. Since the 'Leo Watch' had been set up, Leo had almost died three times._**  
**_

The first time it happened, Annabeth was just about to be relieved by Jason. She stabilized the son of Hephaestus with ease, showing Jason how in case it happened again during his watch.

It did happen again, but not on Jason's watch; it happened on Piper's. She easily got Leo stabilized with her charmspeak.

The last time the fire-user almost died, though…poor Frank froze up. He had _no_ idea what to do, so he grabbed the first person he saw walking past the infirmary—thankfully, it was Annabeth. It had taken some time, and she had almost lost the Latino, but Leo finally settled back down. Annabeth decided to relieve Frank and take an unscheduled watch. She had been in the infirmary ever since.

"Percy," Annabeth scolded. "Get up! It's your turn for watch! I'm tired!"

Percy sat upright in bed so fast he almost bonked heads with Annabeth. "Sorry. When you say watch, you mean…"

Annabeth gave a small smile. "Leo's stable enough now, so I took him off the sedatives and blood IVs. He's still hooked up to some fluid IVs but right now the drugs should be wearing off. He _should_ wake up during your shift."

Percy smiled back, nodding. "Alrighty then. I get to deal with groggy, one-armed Leo!"

Annabeth kissed him. "Don't take him off the extra oxygen yet. He's still struggling. He'll need that life support for _at least_ a few more days."

Percy nodded again, kissing her back.

As he left his room, Annabeth called after him, "Oh, and careful, if he wakes up, he'll be a bit loopy…like when you get the gas at the dentist!"

He made his way to the infirmary, munching on a bacon sandwich he swiped from the mess hall. Leo was still asleep, but he seemed a lot better today than when Percy last saw him—which was right after he had redressed the Latino after Hazel had sawed off his friend's arm. Percy was still having trouble coping with that, but held up the image for the crew's sake. He felt that if he broke down any more about it, the rest of the Seven would break and Leo wouldn't get any help. _Stay strong, Percy_, he reassured himself. _You've been through Tartarus; You can deal with this!_

So, as Percy sat there, playing with some of the disconnected IV chords, he wasn't really expecting someone to talk to him so soon.

"Sad face…is…sad…"

Percy looked up. Leo was staring at him with clouded eyes, his lips forming a small groggy smile underneath the oxygen mask. "Sad…is…bad…" his voice was as thick as syrup. Leo blinked _really_ slowly, too.

"How ya feeling, buddy?" Percy asked, trying to keep Leo's attention.

Leo kept staring and blinking. Percy figured he hadn't even registered the son of Poseidon's words. Around the third blink, his eyes didn't reopen and a small snore escaped through the mask.

Percy sighed. _Well, at least that's good. He's awake! Well, sorta…_

An hour later, Leo woke up again. This time, though, he didn't register Percy being in the room. He just stared at the ceiling, mumbling to himself. "_Te extraño. Te amo. Por favor espérame… Te amo… _Calypso_…por favor...espérame…_"

Percy, who had been dozing himself, was wide awake now. _What did he just say? Rewind: 'Spanish, Spanish, Spanish, CALYPSO, Spanish, Spanish…' Maybe I was hearing things?_

Leo rambled on for a few minutes more, mostly repeating the same three sayings: "_Te extraño; Te amo; Por favor espérame,_ Calypso." Then he fell asleep again.

Percy wanted to shake the son of Hephaestus. Why was he repeating her name!? _Since when does he know her name? What was he saying, anyway?_

He internally argued with himself a few more hours, really wanting Leo to wake up again so he could flat-out ask him. The son of Hephaestus slept on.

Right before Percy decided to try and wake Leo up forcefully, Hazel stepped into the room. She smiled sweetly before taking Percy's spot. "Any news?"

"Annabeth took him off the sedatives," he said. "She said he was stable enough for that, but that he's still having trouble without the mask."

Hazel seemed relieved. Percy felt the same; they were glad Leo was stable now! One less thing to worry about.

"Has he woken up yet?"

"Twice," Percy explained. "First time for a few seconds to tell me not to make a sad face. Second time to mumble Spanish to the ceiling. Annabeth said he might be a bit loopy for a while."

Hazel nodded. "Okay. That's great news." She paused and lowered her gaze. "I—I was really worried that I had made a bad decision. Y'know, regarding his arm…"

Percy squeezed her shoulder encouragingly. "Your quick thinking saved his life. When he's coherent enough to hear the story, he'll definitely understand. Don't kick yourself; if it hadn't been for you, Leo might've died."

"He could have died from the blood loss."

"But he didn't." Percy smiled. "He's getting better now."

The daughter of Pluto smiled back weakly. "As better as a one-armed boy with a punctured lung still hooked up to oxygen tanks can get, I guess."

Percy sighed. The punctured lung was healing, albeit very slowly. Ambrosia and nectar didn't work quite so fast on internal injuries as they did external, so Leo's lung was still in bad shape. He wouldn't survive without the oxygen mask for at least a few more days, regardless of his coherency.

Hazel sniffled. "I just wish it hadn't been his arm. It's so personal, you know?"

"Yeah...well, Ethan Nakamura's price was his eye. Nemesis gets pretty personal with her prices, if you ask me..."

"But...why his arm-no, his _hand_ of all things? Leo needs both of his hands, being a son of Hephaestus. I feel like he won't be able to live without it and that we saved his life for nothing..." A tear fell down her cheek.

"Hazel," Percy took her hand in his. "He can figure out a way. He's Leo Valdez. I'm sure he won't let a missing arm get in his way. You watch: he'll probably build himself a robotic arm just to spite Nemesis!"

Hazel seemed to brighten a little. "Yeah...I suppose he would!"

Percy hugged Hazel encouragingly. He whispered, "Leo will be fine" and left the room. He was aiming to go back to his own room, but the whole Calypso thing bothered him.

The son of Poseidon immediately went to the bathroom and turned on the shower. He threw a drachma into the resulting rainbow and said, "O Fleecy, do me a solid. Show me Reyna, praetor of New Rome."

An image appeared of an exhausted Nico di Angelo leaning against Coach Hedge. The Athena Parthenos was in the background, looking no worse for the wear. Reyna—who was in front of Nico, looking defensive—turned at the sudden image of Percy in the bathroom.

"Percy?" she asked, bewildered. "Is everything okay?"

"Well…" Percy explained what had happened to Leo. Reyna had the good graces to look horrified at the mention of Leo's severed arm. Percy knew that was an expression the praetor didn't show often. Nico and Coach Hedge listened on in the background, both of them very solemn at the news.

"Anyway," he concluded, "Leo keeps mumbling unconsciously in Spanish. You speak Spanish, right?"

Reyna narrowed her eyes and nodded. "I'm Puerto Rican, so Mexican Spanish is a tad different from mine, but I'm sure whatever he's saying is simple enough for me to understand. You think his ramblings are important?"

"Maybe not to our quest, but it's important to me."

"Go ahead."

So, he repeated Leo's mumblings as best he could (minus Calypso's name). Reyna nodded and waved her hand dismissively.

"_Te extraño_ means 'I miss you'._ Te amo_ means 'I love you'._ Por favor espérame_ is 'Please wait for me'. Sounds like he really likes someone back at your camp."

Percy felt himself grow pale. _He couldn't have…when did he even have the time to…wait, didn't Hazel and Jason say that Leo had disappeared for five days and came back looking and acting different? Those five days…Could he have…?_

"Percy?"

Percy started. Reyna was still staring at him. She crossed her arms. "Huh?"

Reyna sighed. "I said, is he going to be able to cope? From the way I've seen him act, he always has his hands moving. As a son of Vulcan, he surely needs his hands—"

Percy swiped the mist before she could continue. _Seriously, can we stop mentioning his lack of an arm and how he'll need it? It's really starting to bum me out._

He ran back to the infirmary, determined to know about Leo's 'marooned' experience. Hazel was still there, holding Leo's hand. Leo's eyes were open. He was smiling sleepily at Hazel.

Leo noticed Percy after a couple seconds. "Heeeey…Perrrrrrcyyyyyy…" he said groggily. His voice was still thick, muffled by the mask.

Percy was tempted to ask Leo flat-out about Calypso. But he saw that his friend was still battling sleep and let it drop. For now. He sat next to Hazel and nodded to Leo.

Leo tried to sit up, but the act of even lifting his head seemed to tire him and he flopped back onto the pillows, groaning. "Whoa…"

"Easy there, Leo," Hazel cooed. She stroked his hair. "Don't move so much."

Leo's feet twitched out of the covers. "Booooored," he whined. "Wanna…ge…up…"

He blinked sleepily again. "Tacos…cinnamon…" With that, he passed out.

Percy rolled his eyes. "He sounds like Grover did when he was sleeping."

Hazel giggled. "But it's means he's better, right?" She glanced over at the drooling Latino. Percy nodded.

He set his hand on Hazel's shoulder again. "Why don't we leave him be for a while? If all he's gonna do is wake up for a few minutes, I think we can assume he's not gonna move very far."

Hazel hesitated before nodding. Percy led her out the door, gently guiding her with his hand still on her shoulder. He took one last look at Leo and frowned. _I'll talk to him about Calypso later…when we're alone._

* * *

**_A/N: There. See? Leo's getting better, but it seems he hasn't realized he's missing an arm. Now, have I settled you guys down a bit now that you know Leo's awake (sorta)? :P_**


	6. The Help We Must Give

_**Okay, first, let me apologize for the suckiness that is this chapter. I pulled this one RIGHT out my ass, mostly because the next few wouldn't have made much sense without a little background. So, here it is. Chapter six in all its ick-ness. I am not proud of how fast I put it together, so later on when I've had time to think, I will make it longer (and more believable) and resubmit it D:**_

_**Disclaimer: Honestly, I'd say the characters in this chapter belong to Rick, but I'm pretty sure the gods aren't owned by anyone :P Regardless, the image of them like this is probably his.**_

* * *

**Six: The Help We Must Give**

_On Mt. Olympus, outside Hephaestus's forge entrance_

***~In (mainly) Apollo's POV but with Aphrodite mixed in~***

While the demigods on the _Argo II_ felt helpless for Leo, a certain love goddess began to pace in the hall. Aphrodite was pacing because her husband wouldn't come out of his forge and answer her.

"Hephaestus!" She screamed. "Get your burnt ass out here!"

Apollo appeared from the other end of the hall. "Geeze, Aphrodite! Can't a sun god get a little peace? Trying to fight off these Greek-Roman headaches is annoying enough without your screeching echoing through the whole of Mount Olympus and amplifying the pain!"

The goddess of love turned to face him. Apollo froze. He had _never _seen her so upset before! Her makeup—her_ makeup!_—was beginning to run. Her beautiful hair was frizzy.

"Um…Okay, sorry," Apollo apologized. He held his hands up in surrender. "Did Hephaestus upset you? What'd he do to get you like that?"

Aphrodite growled at him. "My so-called _husband_ has locked himself in the forges and won't let me in! I'm _upset_ because he won't talk to me about what has happened to the Seven!"

"What happened to the Seven?" Since he didn't have a child on the _Argo II_, Apollo chose to not look at their situations as much as Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Zeus/Jupiter, Hades/Pluto, Ares/Mars, Athena or Poseidon did. But, if something serious just went down, Apollo might need to make an appearance on the ship to help them—regardless of the big man's orders.

Aphrodite explained the Nemesis deal with Leo Valdez, how Leo lost his arm and punctured his lung, and how the rest of the Seven were trying to help him. Apollo winced at Annabeth's feeble attempts. He, being the god of medicine, knew deep down poor Leo wouldn't make it through one day without the life support if Annabeth took it off in a few days. And that was if they weren't attacked by some random monster! If Leo got attacked, it'd be game over for him, for sure!

"Why are _you_ so upset, though?" Apollo questioned. "Leo isn't your child. He's Hephaestus's."

"Precisely!" Aphrodite screeched. "One reason I'm upset is that that bastard blacksmith isn't doing _anything_ but tinker around in his stupid forge! How can he be so heartless towards his favorite son!?"

"One reason," the sun god echoed, ignoring the disrespect toward Hephaestus. "What's the other reason?"

Aphrodite flicked her hair. "If Hephaestus doesn't do something to help Leo, it'll ruin the poor boy, I'm sure! And if he's ruined, then how am I supposed to get my OTP to work!?"

"OTP?" He hated internet lingo at the moment. The Roman side of him was trying to show up, so trying to figure out acronyms wasn't helping his headache any.

"ONE TRUE PAIRING!" the love goddess roared. "I get one every few years or so! A couple years back it was Percabeth: Percy x Annabeth! Now, my new OTP is Caleo: Calypso x Leo! If Leo becomes too depressed and broken to function, how is Caleo supposed to happen!?"

Apollo sighed. _Of course it would be something like that…_ "Let me try and talk to Hephaestus…maybe he's a little scared of you tearing him limb from limb at the moment." _I don't blame him…_

Aphrodite stepped aside, taking deep breaths. Apollo knocked on the door. "Hey, dude. It's Apollo. Lemme in?"

Nothing.

"Please? With sprinkles and a cherry on top?"

Still nothing.

"Let me in, man, or I'll get Hermes to pick the lock and leave you defenseless against your wife. I promise it'll just be me."

That seemed to work. The door unlocked. Apollo slid inside, telling Aphrodite to wait.

About ten minutes later, Apollo reappeared. He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Well?" Aphrodite asked, keeping her voice steady.

"He's working on something that he thinks will help solve Leo's arm problem. But he needs a bit of time, so I promised I would do something to try and distract Leo from totally shutting down."

"What will you do?"

Apollo smiled. "My job. I'm gonna help heal Leo's lung. One less thing for that boy to worry about. But to do it, I'll need the help of two specific goddesses." He wiggled his eyebrow at her. "First, I'll need the queen of charmspeak to help me get him off the ship and obey my medical orders."

Aphrodite nodded.

"Then," he continued. "I'll need Demeter."

Aphrodite pondered this choice for a moment before it dawned on her. "You want to use _that_? It might hurt his psyche even more, though!"

Apollo sighed. "Well, we can't just send him back to Ogygia! The whole rule about no man finding it twice is preventing that. If we weren't having such schizophrenic behavior right now, we _could_ try and break that rule, but we're already breaking Zeus's 'No contact' rule anyway, so it can't be helped. We'll have to use Demeter's method!"

The love goddess lowered her head. Apollo lifted her chin up with his hand. "Don't pout. I'm sure Hephaestus's gift will help the boy keep a steady mind. He's a strong demigod. If Hephaestus has faith in him, then so should you."

Aphrodite huffed. "Alright. So, how long will he be in there?"

"I wanna see what the damage is, but it should be no more than a few weeks," Apollo said. "Just long enough for Hephaestus to pop in and give the boy his gift at the end."

"Weeks?" Aphrodite screeched. "Gaea awakens in weeks! What—"

"Use your brain," he scolded. "Weeks for Leo. Not for us!"

She seemed to understand and nodded. "Right."

Apollo nodded back. "Right. Now, let's go get Demeter!"

* * *

_**There. I know it doesn't make sense now, but trust me: it will later. Just deal with it, please. I'm terribly sorry it's so short and poorly written compared to the other chapters. I squeezed it in at the last minute before I decided to post chapter now-seven.**_

_**To Qwerty: I know it seems like there's a lot of Calypso stuff going on, but please understand it goes no further than thoughts, mentions and dreams. :) And yes, in the end there will be much friendship fluff. But we're nowhere close to that right now, mwa ha ha!**_

_**To others who read the above reply and thought, 'what? no Caleo interactions?' sorry. Eventually I'll write about Caleo in another fic, but this one is not to be focused on that. No siree.**_

_***puts up flame shield***_


	7. The Voices We Must Obey

_**The next few chapters will be much shorter than normal, just so you know.**_

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the idea.**_

* * *

**Seven: The Voices We Must Obey**

_-Twelve hours later-_

_(The rest of the Seven are asleep—minus Frank, who is currently on deck for his watch)_

***~Leo POV~***

Leo woke up, for possibly the thirtieth time, feeling like he was in a dream. A misty white haze edged his vision—like he was looking through a frosted window—and sounds were kind of muffled. Like the past ten times, Leo felt uneasy about something. He was missing something, but he couldn't place what it was…He couldn't place a lot of things in his mind, actually. Every time he woke up, though, it got slightly better. Slightly.

"…_Come."_

That was one of the weirdest experiences Leo had ever had. The word registered in his mind in a kind of backwards way; like a reverse echo: it faded into his thoughts.

"Huh?" he slurred, not really paying attention. Leo figured he should probably go back to sleep again. Maybe he'd wake up again with better hearing.

Just as his mind was shutting down, the word came again: _"Come."_

Leo's vision widened slightly. He registered that he was in the infirmary. Had he always been in there? Wasn't he sleeping soundly in his bunk before?

"_Come now, Valdez. Stop wasting time and get your butt down here."_

The voice, still echoing backwards into his mind, was getting annoyed, but Leo couldn't respond to it. In his haze, Leo finally felt something covering his face. He screwed his eyes to find a thin layer of material—plastic? Glass, maybe?—covering his nose and mouth. Was that always there? He lifted his right hand slowly to take off the cover.

As soon as he did, he gasped for air. There was air around him, but it was suffocating! _Too much! Too much!_ His mind exploded into action and he finally realized he was holding an oxygen mask. His lungs burned and strained. Leo couldn't breathe! He gasped a few times, feeling his lungs collapse, before he decided to put the mask back on. Instantly, he was relieved at the steady, controlled flow. Leo was much more awake now as he processed the fact he needed the mask to breathe. Why did he need one to begin with? Was he dying…?

"_Ah, that's right. You're still in need of that tank…"_

"_Of course he needs it! You're so ridiculously ignorant!"_ That was a new voice entirely. It was male. Through the thick fog, Leo felt like he was going mad. Two voices in his head—one male and one female? If he were in a right mind, he would have questioned it more and acted extremely suspicious.

However, Leo's mind was still foggy and loopy. Whatever intelligent thoughts he might have had were pushed aside to make way for the new voices.

"_Regardless, you still have to come."_

Leo registered that his body was lifting out of the infirmary bed without his permission. His right side felt extremely heavy, distracting him from the fact that his body was moving on its own. _Why's it feel so heavy_, he thought slowly, feeling like he was drunk. Spots danced in his vision as wires on his skin were tugged loose and fell harmlessly beside the bed.

The only thing that remained was the mask hooked up to the heavy oxygen tanks and life support below the bed.

No…wait…

Now a smaller version of the life support system was strapped to his back, like a scuba tank. He didn't remember doing that. Though, it didn't weigh more than a feather, for which Leo was grateful. He didn't think he could hold an oxygen tank in his—was it drunken?—stupor.

"_Come, boy,"_ a newer, third voice said. It soothed Leo, made him want to do what it said, almost like Piper's charmspeak.

"_You must come," _said the first voice.

"_We have what you need." _That was the second voice.

"_Join us," _said the third voice. Leo felt his body relax further at the sound of it.

"_You must come."_ All the voices spoke in unison.

Before Leo could process the voices and actually form a proper thought, he found himself already walking—well, stumbling—out of the infirmary.

His mind went blank as he headed up the stairs, eager to obey the voices—especially the pretty third voice—that echoed in his brain.

* * *

_**A/N: Uh-oh. Who could those voices be, I wonder? :P**_

_**To Qwerty: Concerning Leo's gift from dear old Dad, I already gave a sort-of-hint in an earlier chapter without meaning to :D You'll find out about Apollo's plan in a couple of chapters.**_


	8. The Life We Must Treasure

_**Okie dokie then. On with the show~!**_

_**Disclaimer: I'm not Rick. This is not canon. If it was, I think Rick would be swarmed by Team Leo D:**_

* * *

**Eight: The Life We Must Treasure**

_-On deck-_

***~Frank POV~***

Frank felt a little lonely. Hazel was resting in her cabin below, still shell-shocked even though Leo had woken up several times now. She needed space, he could tell. But it still left him feeling lonely as he stood on the deck at the helm, watching the clouds pass by as they flew. It was near two o'clock in the morning, so the slowly descending moon was casting an eerie light over the _Argo II_.

Frank was also feeling a little useless. When his turn for 'Leo Watch' came yesterday, he wasn't ready for a life-threatening situation. When Leo's attack started, Frank froze. He was _definitely_ no son of Apollo. It freaked him out. Thankfully, Annabeth had been walking by in the hallway and Frank was able to grab her and get her to save Leo.

_Why am I so useless? I can command an entire legion of dead guys, but when Leo started dying..._

The doors to the lower deck opened slowly. Frank craned his neck to see who was coming out. _Shouldn't be Jason. I just relieved Piper of watch, so who…?_

He was more than surprised to see Leo stagger out onto the deck. A little life support system was strapped to his back. Frank thought that it must've been heavy, considering how weak Leo must be feeling.

Frank tried not to look at the wrapped-up stump, but it was hard. Anyone who knew Leo would instantly feel queasy at the _thought_ of him losing an arm, and Frank was looking right at the place it used to be.

Needless to say, the son of Mars felt like he needed to find a bucket. What a tough guy, indeed.

Leo stumbled a bit, making Frank forget about his nausea momentarily. He rushed down the stairs to help the struggling Latino. Leo was breathing in and out slowly, the oxygen tank controlling his breaths. He stood straight and walked unsteadily to the railing of the ship. Frank held the boy by his shoulders, stopping him.

"Leo?"

Leo turned to face Frank. The son of Mars gasped at how empty his eyes were. Leo's eyes were so distant and tired, devoid of any real emotion. His face—from what Frank could see through the oxygen mask—was slack.

"L-Leo," Frank tried. "You need to go back to bed. How did you get out here?"

Leo turned around and brushed Frank off. He stopped at the railing, looking over it to the land below. "Come?" he whispered so softly Frank almost missed it. "How?"

"Come where?" Frank began to ask. He then froze in his tracks as Leo lifted himself onto the railing, trying to find his balance.

Now, if you've never seen a one-armed person try to climb up onto a rail or a balance beam, I don't recommend it. A lesser person would think it was hilarious. But, in reality, it's extremely hard to watch. The person struggles with all their might, wearing themselves out rather easily, hugging the rail until they can get their breath back. Then, they have to stand up, which is another balance battle in itself.

In short: not a pretty sight.

Frank thought in the back of his mind the son of Hephaestus must not even know about his handicap. Either that, or he knew full well about his new handicap and wasn't coping well. Frank tried to push that scary thought down. _Please, gods—whichever one is bothering to listen—don't let him be…don't let him try!_

Frank wanted to reach out to Leo and get him down, but all he could do was yell, "LEO, GET DOWN FROM THERE! YOU'LL FALL!"

That came out louder than he intended (it even echoed) but it seemed to do something. Leo flinched, almost tripping over the railing as he balanced precariously like a gymnastics star. Frank was still frozen in fear. _If he falls, would I be able to shift and catch him?_ Frank thought about it for a moment and knew he wouldn't be able to. He could face a herd of Katobleps and lead a legion of ghosts against an army of monsters…but Leo willingly jumping off his own ship to his death was the thing that made Frank freeze up again. He wouldn't react fast enough if it came to that!

"…Frank?"

Frank looked up and saw Leo looking right at him, a confused look in his otherwise blank eyes. "What are you yelling about?"

Frank dared to take a step closer. "Leo, get down from there," he repeated, trying to stay calm. "Please come down. We can talk about whatever's hurting, if that's the problem. You don't have to end it! Whatever's bothering you, please, we can help. Don't jump."

"Come?" Leo asked, the void-like blankness returning to his face. "Jump? Is that what you mean by come?"

Frank's eyes widened. Leo turned around again, edging closer to the end of the rail. Frank was still frozen, unsure of what to do.

"LEO!"

Frank turned to see Piper, in her eagle pajamas, hauling ass across the deck. Her face was frozen in horror. "Frank, do something—NO!"

The son of Mars looked back at the rail.

The now empty rail.

Leo had jumped.

* * *

_**A/N: Dun dun duuuun! D: Oh no, Leo!**_


	9. The Guilt We Must Bear

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the idea.**_

_**This is the final short chapter for a bit, which is why I'm posting it now instead of tomorrow.**_

* * *

**Nine: The Guilt We Must Bear**

_-Ten minutes later-_

***~Hazel POV~***

"Okay, one more time," Annabeth said, rubbing her temples. "Explain to us _why you didn't fly after him_!?"

Frank was slumped forward on the stairs, his head in his hands. The rest of the Seven—minus Leo—were staring down at him. Hazel realized this was pretty much almost the exact situation Leo had been in after the eidolon had possessed him and forced him to fire on New Rome.

Frank had tried to explain that he just froze up, unable to shift and fly after Leo when he jumped. Hazel was sitting next to him, giving him a comforting rub on the back. She had believed him the first time. She knew Frank wasn't a very good liar, and he could never _ever_ lie about something like this. But she was still a little peeved about this whole situation

"I told you," her boyfriend said quietly. "I-I couldn't…I _froze_. I never imagined that Leo would actually—"

He buried his face in his hands. Hazel hugged him. She whispered encouraging words into his ear.

Suddenly Piper was down to their level. "I don't think Leo would be suicidal either, Frank. But that still doesn't change the fact that he jumped off the ship. We need to stop the ship and go down to look for him."

Percy shook his head. "Would he have survived a fall into the water from so high?"

Piper silenced him with a glare. Hazel was slightly terrified.

She looked at Jason. The son of Jupiter was pacing across the deck, waiting for Piper to tell him to fly off.

Hazel continued to hold onto Frank, who was shaking, while Annabeth went to the controls and started to slowly lower the _Argo II_.

Jason took the hint immediately and flew off with Percy in tow. Piper ran over to Festus and told the dragon to try and scan for Leo. Hazel couldn't understand machinery, but she figured Festus's squeaks and whirring noises were probably "Aye, aye, Piper!"

Hazel helped Frank to his feet. Her boyfriend had all but shut down now. He was still horrified about sitting and doing nothing while Leo jumped. His freezing up during the catastrophic Leo Watch didn't help boost his confidence, either she imagined.

Hazel was trying as best she could to comfort him, but eventually snapped, "Frank, just go downstairs and think! Come back up when your head is a little clearer!"

That seemed to reach him. The son of Mars looked down at her and nodded. He shuffled away, his head bowed so low he looked like a headless zombie from behind. Hazel could only hope that he would snap out of his guilt-stricken trance soon. The Seven all needed each other now more than ever, but now…one was completely numb with guilt...

And one had possibly just killed himself…

Hazel wanted to cry.

The guilt about Leo's arm slammed into her like a train. She ran off the deck and into her own room, taking her own advice. The minute she locked the door, she burst into tears.

All of this was her fault! It had been because of _her_ (and Frank, too, but she held more blame for leading them into the situation) that Leo had opened the fortune cookie in Rome, sealing his fate.

_She_ had been the one who decided that they should saw Leo's arm off.

It was _her_ fault Leo had no arm now.

It was _her_ fault Frank was acting like a zombie.

And it was _her fault_ Leo had just committed suicide…

* * *

_**A/N: Did anyone notice the trend in the POV's? Like, how I'm giving each of the Seven a POV? :3 Leo gets multiples because he's Leo and it is his story. But everyone else in the Seven gets just one POV chapter.**_

_**That being said, there's only one more to go after Hazel: Jason! When you see the magical Jason chapter, the end is coming. Just a fair warning :) **_


	10. The Recovery We Must Have

_**:o Oh look! A Leo chapter! Cue the happy dances!**_

_**Disclaimer: I own the idea, not the characters.**_

* * *

**Ten: The Recovery We Must Have**

***~Leo POV~***

The next time Leo woke up, he was _actually_ awake! He could feel the ground beneath him, hear all the sounds around him, see and register everything in front of him.

Of course, there wasn't much of a view. What he could see was a beautiful willow tree, its leaves and branches draping over him like a curtain, the midday sun peeking through the spaces. A couple birds fluttered in the background, their chirping filling Leo's ears. The willowy scene hit him softly, sending calming waves through his body. The soft grass below him made him want to go back to sleep.

_Wait._

Leo forced himself to stay awake.

_Backup._

His eyes darted around and his breath hitched.

_Midday sun? Grass? Birds?_

Leo shot up into a sitting position. Pain reverberated through his chest and he went to clutch at it.

Only the hand he tried to clutch it with wasn't there. His shoulder made the movement, but Leo couldn't feel his hand touch his chest. Leo looked down and shrieked—seriously, he never _ever_ thought he'd have the lung capacity to shriek and he hoped no one he knew had been around to hear such a sound escape his mouth. His whole left arm, all the way up to his shoulder, was gone! Bandages wrapped around the stump. He absentmindedly let his right hand touch the space where his left arm had been when he had gone to sleep.

_Oh gods,_ he thought, panicked. _Think about something else. Think about something else. Huh?_

Suddenly he registered the mask over his nose and mouth. He reached up to pull it off but then stopped. The memory from the last time he woke up shot through him and he left it be, letting his gaze follow the tubes to the oxygen tank/life support system lying beside him. He tested out his balance before clutching his chest with his existing hand. There were bandages there, too, and Leo could literally _feel_ one of his lungs working harder than before, trying to compensate for the damaged one. Leo was thankful he had the system to regulate his breathing—not only to help his damaged lung, but also to help him keep calm. He felt like hyperventilating right now because of his missing arm!

Leo gazed around more, desperate to keep his mind off of that. _Where am I, anyway? How did I get here? I remember…waking up in the infirmary (that was weird) and then following these random voices to the upper deck (weirder) and then…what did I do? I…_ he struggled to remember. _I…was on the rail…Frank…he yelled at me? Why was he doing that? Then…I…did I jump?_

The thought unnerved him. He had willingly _jumped_ off of his own ship, which, if memory served, was high in the air! _How in Hades did I get down here!? And I'm unharmed—well, unharmed apart from the arm and lung, but I'm pretty sure those didn't come from my fall…_

Leo then realized he was not wearing a shirt. All he was wearing were comfortable white cotton pants. No shirt. No shoes. His tool belt was beside him, hanging on one of the willow tree's roots. Where the heck _was_ he?

A hand arrived on his shoulder. Leo looked round. His eyebrows shot into the air.

There were three gods standing there beside him, one of which was crouched down holding his shoulder. Technically, they were two goddesses and one god: Apollo was holding his shoulder, Aphrodite and Demeter were standing off to the side. Now he understood why he had to obey the third voice. It _was_ charmspeak. Charmspeak from the goddess of love herself.

"Huh?" he said. _Oh, yeah, that's the most brilliant thing to say to three Olympian gods…_

Apollo smiled, showing his perfect white teeth (that made Leo just a tad jealous). "Hey, there, hero! Sorry we couldn't teleport you directly from the bed, but all those wires would've been a hindrance. You didn't need them anyway."

"Where am I?" Leo finally croaked.

Demeter stepped closer. "This is a small bubble that I created to help heroes in need long ago. I have many bubbles like this across the world. If a demigod is in trouble, one of these will catch them and help them. But, the bubbles don't move. You have to actually fall or stumble into one while in critical condition."

"That's why we needed you to, y'know, _jump _off the ship so fast," Apollo finished.

_Ah,_ Leo thought. _Well, I guess that's better than me being slightly suicidal…_"Aren't you sorta…having trouble with your personalities?"

Aphrodite giggled. "Helping you is keeping us stable, for now."

Demeter nodded. "It's rare that a demigod hero finds one of my helpful bubbles nowadays—especially one in the ancient lands. Since you're Greek, it helped me stabilize into the Greek form for this confrontation."

Apollo smiled wider. "Healing is something I do best, regardless of my form. Besides, my name's the same, too, so there isn't any reason for me to get the headaches. Well, in here, at least, there isn't…"

"Where's my arm?" Leo asked, hopeful.

Apollo's smile vanished. "I'm sorry, Leo…It belongs to Nemesis now, and no one can change that."

Finally, the memory of him getting the fortune cookie tattooed on his hand hit him. Leo shuddered. He still couldn't remember how it happened, but now he knew his arm was gone because of _her_. "You said heal," Leo began. "Can you…give me a new arm?"

"I can't heal what's not there."

Leo's heart shattered. _Figures._

The sun god squeezed his hand on Leo's shoulder. "We didn't put you here to heal your arm. We put you here to heal your lung." He pointed to Leo's chest. "While I appreciate young Annabeth's try at healing it, I'm afraid you're going to need more than just a _few days_ on life support. Should she have removed the steady flow of oxygen in a few days like she planned, you wouldn't have coped. Regular nectar and ambrosia alone can't handle such an internal injury on top of your arm. All of the healing power has been directed to your shoulder."

Leo shifted uncomfortably, feeling sad about the constant reminder.

"So," Apollo continued, "this is what you need, now: Rest, relaxation, and some good ol' fashioned medicine."

He waved his hand. A bottle of nectar appeared beside him. "This nectar is specifically used for internal injuries. It will heal up your lung's injury within a few days, but you still need to take it slow while using it. I'm recommending you stay on life support for one week and then take two weeks to get the bad lung up and running again."

Leo nearly fell over. "T-three weeks!? But Gaea—! She's rising soon! I can't just sit back and relax knowing my friends could be dying before I even get out of here!"

Aphrodite stepped closer. "Sweetheart, you forget: this is a healing area. The time shall flow differently here. Think Ogygia, but no cursed goddess or randomly waiting around for a dinky little raft to leave. Only when Demeter and Apollo deem you fit enough to leave shall you be allowed to go. Three weeks here will only be three hours to your friends."

Demeter smiled and nodded. "Yes, hero, you need not worry."

Leo relaxed a little. "Well…what am I supposed to do for three weeks? Is there a forge I can play around in…?"

"None of that," Apollo said sternly. "You are staying away from forges and heavy machinery until you get back on the _Argo II_. But, to answer your question…Aphrodite, care to take this? It's about time we leave…"

The love goddess bent down and looked Leo straight in the eye. "Leo Valdez," she said, laying the charmspeak on thick. "You shall do what Apollo has recommended in regards to your healing. Every day for the first week you shall have only one hour of consciousness. When you wake from your sleep, the first thing you will do is drink the nectar (I would recommend holding your breath to do this, as you need to take off the mask to drink). After that, you may sit up and stretch—no walking around. After the life support is no longer required, you are allowed six hours of consciousness for the second week, and twelve for the third. During these weeks, you will perform strict breathing exercises while awake and/or perform some small physical therapy activity—more on those when we get there."

"I'm gonna get so bored, though," Leo complained. "Can I tinker with the stuff in my tool belt?"

Aphrodite glanced at Apollo. The sun god sighed and nodded. Aphrodite turned back to Leo. "You may."

Now that that question had been answered, the charmspeak hit Leo full force. He was already beginning to feel tired, but he jolted himself awake, blinking away sleep.

Demeter whispered something to Aphrodite. The love goddess nodded. "One more thing," she said. "To make sure you actually do go to sleep, there shall be an alarm set for you. When you hear the chirping birds begin to sing a lullaby—doesn't matter which one—you will immediately fall asleep."

_Great_, he thought, groaning.

"Don't worry," Apollo encouraged. "It'll go by pretty fast. I promise."

Leo rolled his eyes. Then he thought of something else. "What about food?"

"You won't be eating, per say," Apollo said. "You'll get the nutrients you need through my sunlight as you sleep. Like a plant."

Leo groaned. "So, I'll basically be a vegetable for three weeks?"

Demeter scoffed. "Nothing wrong with that, lad. Vegetables are good for you. It doesn't matter, anyway. You won't get any skinnier here, and you won't be skipping any meals."

Leo looked down, not really wanting to continue this conversation.

"Right then," Demeter said, clapping her hands together. "Let's get going before our Roman aspects decide that this needs battle strategies…"

Aphrodite leaned in and kissed Leo on the cheek, making the demigod blush furiously. She then whispered into his ear, "You'll have nothing but good dreams for three weeks, hero. Gaea shall not reach you here…And I believe you _can _and_ will_ get back to _her_. Good luck!"

Leo smiled at the hint. Demeter and Aphrodite left in two blazing light shows. Apollo stood and snapped. "Alright, Leo. First dose, let's go!"

Leo held his breath, and removed the oxygen mask, placing it on his knee. Apollo handed him the bottle of nectar. Leo took about two gulps' worth of nectar before securing the mask over his nose and mouth again. He smiled. The nectar tasted like he was drinking his mother's enchiladas.

"Good," Apollo sighed. "I'll check in every once in a while, so don't be trying to do stupid stuff while I'm away."

With that, the god disappeared, leaving Leo alone with his life support and thoughts.

His thoughts didn't last very long, though.

Soon, the willow tree was billowing softly in the wind, the leaves gently caressing Leo's face and bare chest. It tickled, relaxing him again. The sun was dappling across his body, warming him.

The chirping birds began singing a lullaby. His thoughts trailed away into a beautiful sweetness as he lay back down again, ready to sleep…ready to leave the pain behind…ready to go…

He closed his eyes, letting his life support carry him away…After all; he didn't even have to think about breathing. His oxygen tank would help him.

His chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm. The grass around him was soft, like he was laying on a cloud, drifting endlessly through the sky without a care in the world…How relaxing…how peaceful…Only one thought crossed his mind as his consciousness drifted away:

_This must be Elysium…_

* * *

_**A/N: Sorry to all the Apollo fans out there, but in this story, he is slightly more serious than the canon version. I believe that Apollo as a doctor would be more serious than Apollo as a haiku-writing, sun-chariot-driving guy. Plus, he's already strained with the whole Greek-Roman headache and I think that would make even Apollo less happy ;P**_

_**Next chapter will be Leo as well, so have fun with the wait~!**_


	11. The Boredom We Must Endure

_**Happy Labor Day to everybody that cares!**_

_**This is the shortest chapter in the story, I promise. Yes, Leo does have that 'ghost limb' syndrome while in the bubble, but I'm choosing to not write about it in this chapter. Sorry.**_

_**Disclaimer: Rick owns everything you recognize as canon.**_

* * *

**Eleven: The Boredom We Must Endure**

***~Leo POV~***

And so it went.

For the first week, Leo was forced to only sit and be still. Literally. He tried to stand up once and found that his legs and butt were rooted into the ground. _Way to make me feel _more_ like a vegetable!_

On the first day, sitting still was rather hard. And _boring_. He drummed on his knee, tapped his feet together, and picked at the grass—though he got a warning from Demeter to not pull it from the ground.

He even tried building some small things with little things from his tool belt. That was even harder. Trying to build a mini helicopter one handed was hard enough on him, but his emotions set in and he had to put down whatever he was building to let them loose. So he cried the rest of the hour, giving in easily as the birds sang him to sleep.

It got easier with each passing day, though. Every time he woke, Leo felt his memory slip. He slowly forgot what it was like to feel pain and sorrow, only remembering happiness and joy. He forgot about the deaths of his loved ones, about the coming war between the Greeks and the Romans, even about Gaea herself. The tinkering with only one hand got easier as well, and he began to forget how it felt to build with two hands.

If any of that was intentional, Leo didn't mind. The relaxing environment calmed him dramatically, and with each day, the nervous energy settled down within him. His last day with the life support saw him just sitting and watching the willow leaves softly blow in the wind, his mind completely blank.

And his dreams! Gods, his dreams were so beautiful! He dreamed of helping his mother out in the workshop, of her never dying and actually getting the opportunity to patent her idea. He would finish high school and work for her, share his corny jokes as she worked alongside him. They would live in a nicely furnished house, with a garage attached so Leo could work on his own things. That was the life he always wanted, the life he could've had if not for Gaea. The dream was his biggest wish come true.

He also dreamed of Calypso. Because he was slowly forgetting the pain that came with saving the world, he also started to forget the reason he needed to leave her. So, in his dreams he never left; The raft had come, they shared a kiss, and he chose to stay. In his dreams they would walk down the beach hand-in-hand, kiss passionately in her garden, share a picnic on a gentle sloping hill while watching the sunset…he wanted nothing more than to share his life with her, and in his dreams, he got that wish too.

* * *

_**A/N: As I said, shortest chapter of the story. The next one will be a little harder on the heart, I hope, so bear with the wait! :(**_


	12. The Memories We Must Forget

_**Because I start actual work tomorrow and the last chapter was f-ing short as Hades, I'll let you guys have the next chapter now :3**_

_**Disclaimer: Of course none of the characters are mine. I'm 99% sure Rick is not 22 years old D:**_

* * *

**Twelve: The Memories We Must Forget**

***~Leo POV (with Apollo thrown in at the end)~***

The second week was when Apollo took his oxygen tank away. Leo had almost forgotten what Apollo looked like, so it confused him greatly when the sun god appeared. Apollo gave him a knowing smile.

"Coping well, I see," he said as he unhooked the tank and took away the mask. Leo felt his damaged lung try to take in all the air at once. It hurt.

_Hurt? Pain…? How could I forget about those things?_ Leo thought as he tried to steady himself. _What is happening…?_

Apollo held out his hand. "Come on, hero. Time to get up. You need to stretch your legs. You haven't walked in a week!"

_Hero?_ Leo stood up shakily, using the sun god for support as he tried to balance with one arm. His legs felt like jelly.

Apollo held him steady. "Alright! Great job, Bambi! You stood up. Keep breathing, big guy. We're gonna take a few steps forward, alright?"

Leo nodded as he shuffled across the grass. His damaged lung tried its best as he took baby steps with the sun god around the willow tree. It probably took a about an hour, with multiple rest-stops and a long enough pause to be considered a tea break, but they finally made it around the tree. Apollo sat him back down, handing him the nectar bottle.

As Leo drank it, Apollo cleared his throat. "You've already begun to cope to the environment. That's good. At least you won't be too bored, now. But, don't forget too much, Leo. You still have a quest to get back to, and when you return, all those lost memories will hit you full force. The more you forget, the more it'll hurt when you go back."

_Quest…_he drawled over the word in his mind. _Hurting…right…the quest made me…hurt…I don't want to…hurt…_

Apollo patted him on the head. "Time for the breathing exercises, hero."

* * *

It went on like that for the next week. For the first three hours, Leo would be led around by either Apollo or Demeter and then be given a breathing exercise schedule. When the god/goddess left, Leo would be alone again for the next three hours to do as he wished.

The first two days he would just continue the breathing exercises until the birds sang him back to sleep, enjoying the silent meditation.

The third and fourth days, he would actually stand up on his own and walk around the tree, leaning on the tree for support more often than not. Each time he did a round, though, he got a little faster. He even began to race himself. Then the pain in his chest would make him stop. He'd sit down wherever he stopped and start up the meditation.

The last three days he would get a bit of a spring in his step as he walked around the tree, and on occasion he'd feel the need to skip over a root. He spent less time meditating in those days, and more time enjoying the sensation of walking.

* * *

By the time the third week arrived, his memories were all but gone.

Leo felt like a child again. He had no cares, no worries, and no painful past to haunt him. The memories of the quest on the _Argo II_ had faded into oblivion.

The seventh wheel thing? Gone. Loneliness was just another thing he couldn't feel anymore.

His mother dying in a fire? Not even a memory anymore. Leo couldn't even remember that he had fire powers.

His tool belt? Hadn't even been used in days. He had forgotten about it, too.

His godly heritage? Lost in the beautiful sweetness of the days.

The Prophecy of Seven? Leo didn't even consider he could be one of the Seven, much less remember what the prophecy was.

The only things he could remember were the feelings of happiness and bliss, the sometimes-prickly-pain of his bad lung working hard, his happy dreams of his mother and Calypso, and Apollo and Demeter. He might've forgotten his name long ago, too, if the Olympians didn't call him by it every day.

* * *

The third week's first day came. Leo woke up feeling refreshed as usual. He stood up, proud of himself for doing it so quickly and without help. He wondered if Apollo would be proud of him for doing that.

"I am happy you can do that, yes."

Leo whirled around. The sun god was smiling knowingly at him. Leo smiled back, not caring that his thoughts had been read. He walked over confidently, his breath didn't even hitch as he did a tiny hop at the end of the walk.

"It's amazing what a little R&R will do for your health, isn't it, Leo?" Apollo asked, ruffling the boy's curly hair. Leo grinned at him cheekily.

Then Apollo's face turned dark for a moment. "But you've forgotten more, haven't you?" He sighed. "That's what this place does, I suppose…It takes away the pain, physical and emotional. It makes you forget."

Leo didn't like when the sun god did this. _Forget what? This place isn't so bad. I'm happy here. Always happy! What is there to forget?_

Apollo smiled again, reading the boy's thoughts. "Do you remember how long you've been here, Leo?"

Leo answered quickly and without hesitation. "Always. I've always been here."

The sun god sighed. "Always, huh? Oh, Leo…" He brightened again. "Alright, time to start a new regimen! I'll get you started on some basic exercises…"

While Leo worked on his small exercises—more along the lines of some light yoga—Apollo watched on with growing dread. The poor boy had forgotten. He had forgotten almost everything about himself, just as he had predicted to Aphrodite. _He might hurt for a long while when he gets out of here…_

"_He'll be able to cope, Apollo."_

Apollo smiled at the sudden voice. _You owe me, Hephaestus. I've got the biggest headache right now, tending to your son while keeping the Roman half at bay._

"_Put it on my tab."_

_And how do you know he'll deal with this well?_

"_My gift will help him settle down again."_

_If you say so…_

Apollo watched Leo struggle with one of the stretches. He had a look of pure determination on his face—one that rather resembled a child trying to solve a hard math problem. "Let me help you, Leo."

"I can do it," the demigod whined. Apollo shook his head. The boy had digressed. He had retreated so far into himself that he probably thought he _was_ a child…

"Leo…don't push too hard. If you can't stretch that far, then stop and do a breathing exercise."

Leo hesitated before switching to a meditation position. His face went slack and his breathing steadied.

"Continue with that regimen for the day. Don't push yourself and slow down. You're allowed twelve hours now." Apollo waved and disappeared, leaving Leo alone to recuperate once more.

* * *

_**A/N: Oh, boy. Leo forgot more! D: That happy ending I promised you all in Chapter 3 is really looking like a lie right now, isn't it? Don't worry. We're almost done! One last Leo chapter to go!**_


	13. The Gifts We Must Receive

_**This is the final Leo POV chapter. :o The conclusion to Leo's healing tale. Not very epic, though :P**_

_**I promise you guys will be happier when you get to the end of this chapter.**_

_**Disclaimer: I wish I owned these characters (especially Leo)**_

* * *

**Thirteen: The Gifts We Must Receive**

***~Leo POV~***

The last week would put Apollo at ease again. Leo would switch his newfound time between meditation and breathing exercises to picking up speed in walking. By the time the week ended, Leo could run at full speed again—well, for at least fifteen laps around the tree; then he'd get winded.

Halfway through the week he rediscovered his tool belt (like a child finding a hidden Easter egg) and happily began to build stuff again to pass the time, a few memories of Festus and building the _Argo II_ resurfacing. Along with those memories, he slowly remembered Jason and Piper—his two best friends. Then the loneliness hit him.

_Alone,_ he thought. _That's right. I'm here by myself…away from my friends! How long have I been here? Are my friends looking for me?_

Slowly but surely, day by day, memories came back to him. Most of them were happy memories of him hanging out on the _Argo II_ with the rest of the Seven—though he was having trouble remembering their names beyond Jason and Piper—and some of them were the fun times he had building said ship with his siblings back at Camp.

Some painful memories resurfaced as well, though: his mother dying (he had a good hour-long cry about that as soon as it came back to him), Festus crashing (still upsetting), losing his arm (that one still hurt—like a ghost kept haunting him with his own nonexistent hand). He felt so tired now. Tired of everything…

But Leo kept up with his routine. He found that the meditation exercises not only helped his breathing but also calmed him down. Normally, his ADHD mind wouldn't be able to concentrate, but Leo found it easy now that he had experienced what it was like to have a blank mind for almost two weeks. He would concentrate on keeping his breathing steady, focusing on good memories like his dreams about Calypso and his mother. This would help his mood lighten considerably. Eventually, he realized it was a great way to help deal with his sadness, and that made him even happier.

He no longer felt the tightening in his chest when he walked, ran, or did yoga stretches. His lung was completely fine now. So, on the last day of the third week, Leo sat and meditated while waiting for Apollo to give the okay to leave, anxious to get out of the lovely willow tree place. He liked it, sure, but the more he remembered, the more his nervous energy came back, and the more he wanted to get back to his ship and continue on the…_quest_.

A bright light appeared from behind Leo's closed eyelids. When it faded, he opened his eyes. He was expecting Apollo or Demeter—even Aphrodite—to greet him.

He didn't expect to see his father there.

Hephaestus grunted out a greeting. "Hey, kid. Feelin' better, are we?"

Leo nodded. "Much better. Thanks for, uh, checking up on me, I guess."

The god nodded and shifted uncomfortably. "Yeah...Sorry I didn't visit earlier, but I've been a bit..._busy_."

Leo noticed he had a box in the crook of one of his arms. He pointed to it and asked, "What's that?"

Hephaestus glanced at the box and said, "It's something for you. Apollo said he can't fix what ain't there, so…I made ya this."

He set the box down in front of Leo. The demigod opened it and gasped. Inside, surrounded by plush velvet, was a robotic arm made up of Celestial Bronze, Imperial Gold, and even Stygian Iron! It looked so cool and futuristic, Leo had to wonder if it was a hologram or a CGI special effect in a box.

"…This…" He stammered. "…This very…cool…awesome…automaton arm…is for me?"

The god nodded. "I make it a point to never let any of my kids be deprived of one—or both—of their hands. Legs, and a few fingers, sure. But the whole hand? Out of the question."

Leo felt his heart skip a beat. His father actually…_cared_ that much about him? He was speechless.

"Well, boy, put it on," the god urged. "Unless you _want_ to go around and fight Gaea one-handed."

Leo grabbed the arm. It was pretty light—maybe as light as his old arm? And it seemed to buzz with all sorts of hidden gadgets. Leo almost got vertigo trying to sense all the technology resting within the tiny arm made of metal. He held the arm next to his stumped shoulder. "How do I…?"

The arm vibrated, growing hot. Suddenly, artificial veins and tubes shot out and burrowed into Leo's shoulder. Leo screamed as the nerves connected to wires. He literally felt the blood in his body pumping into the new arm (which didn't make sense to him at all). Within minutes the arm was attached and hanging limp by his side.

Leo tried to regain his breath after almost blowing his lungs out with that scream. After finally catching it again, he looked down at his new arm.

It didn't move. _Styx! Am I doing something wrong?_

"Give it a moment to register your brainwaves and nervous system," Hephaestus assured. "It's still installing."

Leo gave a weak smile. He made the arm sound like a software program being downloaded into a computer. After a few minutes, Leo concentrated, trying to move the arm once more.

The thumb twitched.

Leo's mind exploded into happiness. _My thumb moved! Progress!_

More fingers twitched and eventually Leo found himself clenching and unclenching his fist. After a few more minutes, he was rolling his wrist. Another minute and he was moving his elbow. Finally, he could move the shoulder, wincing slightly at the soreness. Leo looked up at his father and grinned.

"No need to thank me," Hephaestus grunted. "Just know I can't stand it when my children don't have both their hands. You know better than most how valuable the hands of a child of mine are: you might as well have lost half your heart."

Leo nodded, still speechless.

"And keep in mind," the god said, beginning to glow. "It's extremely hard making a whole arm like that fireproof. Waterproof is easy, but fireproof? You try forming something metal with fire—while still keeping it fire_proof_…"

With that thought, he was gone. In his place was a small booklet. It had a sketched picture of Leo's new arm and below that read: _**Instruction Manual**_

Leo grabbed it—with his _new arm_—and flipped through the pages. He blinked several times in surprise. Flamethrower embedded in the palm; water pistol in his index finger with adjustable pressure; Swiss army thumb; secret storage compartment below the wrist; a chameleon circuit; there were so many things that came with this new arm Leo just wanted to take it all apart and see how it worked. He held back the urge, not wanting to ruin this beautiful arm.

"Chameleon circuit?" Leo said the words over and looked through the instructions. "_'Chameleon circuit requires verbal command. Command is as follows: CCO 502'_."

As soon as he read the command aloud, his arm shimmered. It flickered, like a television channel being changed, a couple of times before turning into a solid caramel color, and sprouted a thin layer of brown hair on one side. Leo gaped. It looked like his old arm; arm hair, small freckles, scars and all!

"Neat!" he exclaimed. "It's just as good as new!"

He checked the booklet for more fun stuff but paused at the warning below the Chameleon circuit: _CC standard usage time=12 hours. Recharge waiting period=1 hour. Do not use while in water._

Well darn. Leo had hoped the arm could stay like that forever and let him forget it wasn't real, but no such luck.

He shrugged it off and continued skimming the manual. _Works just like a regular arm, Huh?_ He thought to himself. _Cool. My blood is pumping into the arm…_he studied the next few sentences. _What?_

_"As blood is pumped through the arm, it shall turn to oil to serve as an internal power source. Oil circulating back into the body will shift back to its original blood state."_

_So, I've got oil for blood?_ Leo thought. _That's…I can't tell if that's awesome or strange…_

He left that for future thought and continued:

"_**Proper care:**__ Recommended oiling schedule is once a day. Allowed period between oiling can be up to 3 days. __Proper oiling technique__—think sunscreen. Spread oil over arm and rub across surface. Make sure to get inside the joints. Do not use while CC is in effect. Without proper oiling, joints and gears will…_"

He didn't bother reading the rest of that. Being a mechanic, he knew the basics of stuff like that. He lifted his gaze momentarily, eyeing the can of oil that was suddenly sitting in front of him. On the side, it read _**Ever-Oil: the Endless Supply of Oil Every Mechanic Needs.**_

Leo smiled. "Thanks, Dad."

* * *

After a few hours of testing out his new arm (and repeatedly humming the Inspector Gadget theme song) Leo finally settled back down. He was just about to try and build something when Apollo appeared. The sun god smiled at him.

"Well, someone looks a lot better today!" he said brightly. "That new arm looks awesome, by the way."

Leo grinned. "Still breaking it in. So, can I go now?"

"Hang on, one last check." Apollo bent down and held his hand to Leo's chest, over his bad lung. After a long minute, he smiled. "Your lung's as good as new. So, yes, you are free to go!"

Leo shot up instantly. "Great! So how do I—"

Apollo silenced him. "Ah, ah! I'm still going to have to recommend you not push yourself too hard the next few days. Take time out in your busy schedule to do a breathing exercise. It's not going to kill you."

Leo nodded. He had planned on adding that into his daily schedule anyway. It helped him relax and de-stress. Gods knew he needed a de-stressor in his stressful life. He figured the perfect time to meditate would be right when something in the engine was giving him trouble, or when he couldn't figure out how the astrolabe worked…

"Good." The sun god clapped his hands. "Then I'll just put you back where you belong! Get ready!"

Leo glanced around one last time. It really was a peaceful place. He would miss it. Leo made a mental note that if he ever got out of this Giant War alive, he'd totally find a house next to a willow tree and move there with Calypso. If he couldn't find one, then he'd plant one. Willow trees didn't take _that_ long to grow, right? **(A/N: Psh, yeah…right)**

Then he blinked.

And the scene was gone.

* * *

_**A/N: *sighs* Kay, happy now? Leo's a little happier :D**_

_**The magical Jason chapter is up next, guys! If you remember what I said about the Jason chapter, then brace yourselves!**_

_**Also, Qwerty: Friendship fluff begins next chapter! :)**_


	14. The Friends We Must Keep

_**The magical Jason chapter has arrived! It's time for the reunion! *whoops***_

_**I know this story wasn't that long, but honestly, there was no way I could have dragged that out without it becoming over-dramatic (not because of you Qwerty, I had thought of that long before your comment), redundant or boring.**_

_**I figured I'd write this part with Jason's POV because he**_**is_ Leo's best friend. I enjoy the bromances that Jason has with Percy and Leo :)_**

_**So, here it is! The second-to-last chapter of The Price We Must Pay!**_

_**Disclaimer: The Seven belong to Rick (though if Leo is up for grabs, I'd rip my **_**own_ arm off for him!)_**

* * *

**Fourteen: The Friends We Must Keep**

_-On the _Argo II_-_

***~Jason POV~***

Jason was about to lose his mind, he was stressing out so much.

Nine hours.

He and Percy had been searching the skies and seas around the _Argo II_ for _only_ nine hours. Both of them were tired beyond belief, but neither of them had wanted to give up. Piper finally got on the ship's loudspeakers and forced them to come back on board and rest. Jason hated it when she used charmspeak.

"We need to find Leo," he had argued as soon as he touched down. "He could be in trouble."

Piper gave him some ambrosia (for which he was just a teeny bit thankful). "I know," she said sadly. "But you need to rest. Frank just flew down to search. We'll find him soon, I'm sure of it."

But there was a hint of hopelessness in her voice. Jason shook his head. "Yeah, we'll find him. But we have to keep looking!"

Piper kissed him. "Go to bed and rest a few hours. I'll wake you if we find him."

Jason didn't sense any charmspeak this time, but he felt like he needed the sleep anyway. He reluctantly turned and headed below deck.

Before he reached his room, Jason paused. Some tiny voice in his head was muttering, _Leo's room._ Why, he had no idea…There was a weird feeling tugging in his mind, trying to lead him somewhere…

He found himself walking towards the end of the hall, where Leo's room was. The closer he got, the stronger the feeling, which made Jason a tad uneasy. He hesitated at the door, placing his ear to the wood. There was a faint off-and-on buzzing sound coming from inside. Jason tensed, wondering if he should open it without knocking. _Why would I knock? No one's in there to answer, anyway…_

So, ignoring the buzzing, he opened the door and stuck his head in.

Gods, Leo's room was a mess. Papers and blueprints were littering the floor, pencils and pens and various other writing utensils sticking out precariously like needles ready to stab at Jason's feet. Tools were strewn haphazardly around the room. Leo's occupied bed was messy.

_Huh?_

Occupied bed…?

Jason crept further into the room and turned on the light. He nearly yelled in surprise.

Leo was lying in his bed! He was wrapped up in a cocoon of blankets, snoring loudly (the source of the buzzing, Jason found). Drool trickled down his cheek and onto the pillow he was cuddling. It took Jason a few seconds to realize that Leo was cuddling the pillow with _two arms_! And he wasn't wearing the oxygen mask—not that he needed it, Jason realized; Leo seemed to be breathing just fine now.

Jason furrowed his brows and finally lost it. "LEO!"

That scream echoed off the walls of the hall and cabin. Jason was sure the others still on deck might've heard him.

Aforementioned son of Hephaestus groaned and burrowed deeper into his cocoon, throwing the pillow onto the ground. After a few seconds, he popped back out of the blankets and squinted.

Leo blinked sleepily and rubbed his eyes with the hand that shouldn't have been there. "Huh?" he slurred. "Wassat? We under attack?"

Jason just stood there in utter shock. Leo sat up slowly and stretched. The son of Jupiter noticed the huge scar that circled Leo's shoulder, outlining the spot where his arm had been disconnected. It almost seemed like it had been stitched back, but there were no stitch marks.

"Jason?" Leo said, a little more awake now. "What's up? Did the coffee pot in the mess hall break again? Gimme, like, two minutes and I'll fix it…"

"How did…" Jason stuttered. "How did you end up in here? First you…" he motioned swinging a hammer. "Then you…" now he let his left arm drag like it was dead. "And then you…" He jumped once, mimicking a suicide dive.

Leo blinked in confusion. "You suck at charades, dude."

"You jumped off the ship!" Jason finally managed. "We've been looking for you for hours! How long have you even been in here?"

Leo's face split into a huge yawn. He scrunched up his face in concentration as he gazed up at the handmade steampunk-themed clock on his wall. "Um…I've been sleeping for about six hours, I guess. I had only just gotten in here before I decided I had a date with my pillow…"

"Six…" Jason repeated, still flabbergasted beyond belief. "You've been gone for nine! What about the first three?"

Leo's brows scrunched together. "Uh…"

Suddenly, a voice rang out: "Jason, what's wrong? Are you okay?"

Both boys turned to see a flustered Piper standing in the doorway. "I heard you scream," she said. "Is everything…"

Her voice died when she saw Leo sitting up in bed. She shrieked and ran over to the Latino, tackling him in a hug. "LEO! OH MY GODS! THANK THE GODS YOU'RE ALIVE AND OKAY!"

Leo coughed, now completely awake. "Easy, Beauty Queen! Don't squish my chest too much; I only JUST got my lung back in working order!"

Piper released him and looked him over, her fingers grazing over the now fading scar on the right side of his chest. Realization dawned on her face as she looked at his left arm. "Leo…your arm! It's back!"

Leo rubbed his arm, probably self-consciously. "Uh, yeah. My dad convinced Nemesis to give it back temporarily. Sometime after we win the war she'll come back for it. She understands how much I need both my hands for such a big task ahead, I guess."

Jason knew the mechanic was lying. He was doing the same thing he did back in Malta; giving a cover-up story. _What? Nemesis wouldn't just give back something that's hers…_

"How are you breathing?" Jason blurted. "Nine hours ago you were in critical condition; you needed life support!"

Leo shrugged. "I got transported to a healing area by Apollo and Demeter—weird combo, huh?—and they helped me get better. I spent three weeks there, though it was only three hours here. But, I'm all better, see?"

He motioned to the faded scar on his chest. Piper tentatively touched it again. "You're really okay?" she asked quietly, sounding like she was fighting back tears.

Leo smiled and hugged her. "Yes. I'm really okay. And I'm sorry I scared you. Oh! Apollo told me not to, uh, exert myself too much over the next few days. So, no more squishy glomps for a while, okay?"

Piper giggled and hit him playfully. "Fine. I'm glad you're okay…Oh!" She turned to Jason, her eyes wide. "We need to tell the others to stop looking!"

Before Jason could react, Piper was out the door.

Jason stood awkwardly in silence, staring at Leo's arm. Something didn't sit right inside Jason's mind. He hesitated a little before finally managing, "Look, man…I'm not entirely sure I believe the whole 'Nemesis gave you back your arm' thing. Is that really what happened?"

Leo looked at him nervously. "I…" he said quietly. He suddenly dropped his gaze. "Not now, please…It feels weird to talk about it right now…"

Jason sighed, letting the topic drop. "Fine. But, just so you know, we're all here for you. If you're struggling…if you're, y'know, upset in any way, don't bottle it in. You don't have to go through any of this alone—"

Leo gave him a withered look. It was a '_Really? You're giving me _this_ lecture?_' kind of look. "I'm fine, Jason, really. Never been better, actually! I just feel weird talking about my arm being gone for three weeks (to me, at least) and then suddenly getting it back. Give me time, I'll tell you what's up about it later."

"Alright," Jason decided. He sounded more open about this than the whole 'marooned' thing, so Jason let it slide for the time being.

Footsteps pounded down the hall. Jason turned around and nearly laughed out loud as Frank, Hazel, Percy and Annabeth all tried to enter Leo's room at once.

Leo snickered. "All of you must be fat if none of you can fit through the door," he joked.

Hazel broke free, being the smallest. She immediately ran over and went to hug Leo. He held his hands up in surrender. "Hold it!" he warned. "Not too hard! Still trying to recover!"

The daughter of Pluto ignored him and tackled him. Leo gasped for air, smiling. Annabeth had broken free next and was now joining in. Percy and Frank stood awkwardly to the side, watching their girlfriends group hug the Latino. When Leo was allowed up, the boys went over and clapped their hands onto his back.

That was when they all noticed Leo's arm.

Leo seemed to know what they were thinking and instantly defended himself, "Okay, here's the story, just so I don't have to say it a million times: First off, I DIDN'T try to commit suicide!"

Frank shrank as he exhaled, his form relaxing considerably. Hazel entwined her fingers in his and smiled at him. He reciprocated it.

Leo continued, "Apollo, Demeter and Aphrodite all charmed me into jumping off the ship and into a healing area. They made me stay there for three weeks while my lung recovered."

"But you've only been gone nine hours," Percy interrupted.

"I was only gone for _three_ hours," Leo corrected. "Three hours to you, three weeks to me inside the healing area. My arm came back at the end, along with Dad telling me that he made Nemesis give it back—at least until the end of the war. When our quest is over, my arm will be taken again." He chuckled. "Maybe by that point I'll have a robotic spare arm at the ready, eh?"

No one laughed. Leo shrugged it off. "Apollo teleported me back into the room and I decided a nice cat-nap was in order. Six hours later…Jason rudely woke me up! I was having such a nice dream, too," he pouted, his voice squeaky like a child's.

Annabeth slapped his shoulder. "You deserve more than a rude awakening! Why didn't you come up and tell us you were okay?"

Leo shrugged again. Jason figured he must be reveling in the use of both shoulders. "I was tired. I wasn't gonna go upstairs, take one look at you guys and promptly pass out! I need to keep a bit of dignity, here!"

Speaking of dignity, Jason noticed Leo was only wearing a pair of Charmander boxers. He almost snorted at that irony.

Annabeth gingerly touched the scar winding around Leo's shoulder. Leo flinched, but it didn't seem like he had shrunk back in pain. "Did it hurt?" Annabeth asked.

"Not as much as losing it did," Leo admitted, rubbing his left forearm. "I'd rather not talk about it, to be honest."

A growling noise echoed in the cabin. It sounded like the Manticore had returned for Round II! Jason and Percy reached for their pocket weapons, but Annabeth held up a hand.

The growling came again, much louder this time.

Five pairs of eyes locked onto its source: the stomach of a certain Latino mechanic.

Leo turned red and smiled sheepishly. "Y'know, I could _really_ go for a pizza right now…Anyone up for a trip to the mess hall?"

All of the demigods smiled. They each left, one by one, to head down to the mess hall.

Jason left last before Leo. He turned around to make sure Leo was doing okay.

Said son of Hephaestus was rummaging around his cabin looking for some pants. Before Jason exited, he could've sworn he heard Leo humming the Inspector Gadget theme song.

_Only Leo…_he thought happily.

* * *

_**A/N: I feel like Leo would still be embarrassed about suddenly having a kick-ass new arm. His reasoning: If he can hide it, why let the rest of the Seven worry about something that looks detachable? He'll tell them when he's ready :)**_

_**My reasoning: BoO obviously won't have Leo with a super cool robotic arm, so I figured I'd make this seem a bit canon-like a side story! Can you see this happening? Now it's not so AR-like :D**_


	15. The Truths We Must Reveal

_**Aaaaand finally...the last chapter! Friendship fluff shall ensue :D No drama, just pure friendship :)**_

_**To the guest comment on the Doctor Who reference: I TOTALLY DIDN'T EVEN REALIZE! :D I just threw that phrase together cause it sounded cool! I had forgotten that came from DW! *happy dance***_

_**I'm gonna just ignore Rick's words and make it seem as if everyone survives the BoO. Soooo, this part of the story will be more AU (though Leo with a robotic arm is already AU-like :P).**_

_**Speaking of BoO: ONLY ONE MORE MONTH~! *hyperventilates* Holy Hephaestus there's only one more month left! I'm not gonna make it! D:**_

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize as canon.**_

* * *

**Finale: The Truths We Must Reveal**

_-Right after the Giant War-_

***~In No One's POV, this shall skip around shamelessly~***

_-The Seven are visiting Camp Jupiter to stabilize the peace with the Romans before the Greek half of the Seven heads home-_

"You haven't _lived_ until you've had a Roman bath!"

Hazel was waving her arms around frantically, completely ecstatic over getting to bathe like a Roman again. Piper was easily just as thrilled.

"Gods," the daughter of Aphrodite sighed. "After all that's happened, a nice relaxing bath sounds divine!"

Annabeth was squealing—yes, squealing—in agreement. "I feel like this is just the thing to get rid of all the Gaea that's ended up on me!"

While the girls giggled on, excited about the girl-time in the Camp Jupiter baths, the boys of the Seven shifted uncomfortably. Being teenage boys, _of course_ the first thing on their minds was something that shouldn't be discussed aloud—especially in front of their girlfriends!

And of course, the _first_ thing out of Leo's mouth anyway just had to be: "Wonder who's bigger…Guess we're finally gonna get the answer to that age-old question!"

Unfortunately, the girls had heard. They all turned and grimaced at the boys.

"Really?" Piper said, sighing again with exasperation. "Is that all you guys think about?"

"Please don't answer," Hazel said before Leo could come up with a reply.

Annabeth just shook her head at Percy.

Jason, Percy and Frank each shared a blush (and silently agreed to punch Leo later) as all Seven of them headed into the baths carrying their individual shower bags and towels.

* * *

In the male changing room, Jason, Percy and Frank stripped down while Leo went around the corner to relieve himself. As Percy wrapped a blue towel around his midsection, he noticed a small bottle laying on its side, accidently spilled out of Leo's turned-over shower bag. It didn't look like a normal shampoo bottle. In fact, it looked like something a mechanic would have in a machine shop, not a bath house. He bent down and picked it up.

"_**Ever-Oil**_?" he read aloud.

Jason and Frank—both now wrapped in their respective yellow and purple towels—walked over to the son of Poseidon. Jason looked the bottle over, furrowing his brows. _Why is something like that in Leo's shower bag?_

Frank's thought process was basically the same: _Did he accidentally take his Festus/Buford cleaning kit instead of his shower kit—again?_

Percy continued to read the contents. "'For all your oiling needs. Ever-Oil is guaranteed to re-replenish inside the bottle and keep movements in machinery as smooth as silk. Recommended for all types of automatons—specifically smaller automaton parts such as legs and arms.'"

Percy paused, glancing over the word 'arms' again. A light bulb clicked on in his brain.

Frank and Jason had the same realization. Gaea had been defeated only a week ago…had Leo's arm already been taken back by Nemesis? It couldn't have been…he still had it attached to his shoulder; attached like it always was. So, maybe they were a little paranoid, but all of the boys had silently agreed to be there for Leo when the time did come for him to give up his arm again.

Speak of the devil…

Said Latino was now prancing into the room wearing nothing but a much-too-small red towel wrapped over his goods. He grinned cheekily as he threw his clothes into a corner. "What'cha guys doin'?"

Percy held up the bottle. All three guys raised their eyebrows.

Leo's smile fell immediately. _Styx, _he silently cursed. _I forgot I had that in there…oh double Styx! My chameleon circuit! It's still activated and I can't use it while in the water!_

(Fact: He had tried that once in the shower on the _Argo II_ and the image had immediately shut off. It didn't short circuit or anything, just shut off.)

He shuffled nervously. Jason caught the embarrassed look in his eyes. Frank noticed how he was rubbing his left arm. Percy could smell smoke.

Leo's ears were smoking. He patted them out before the fire could start. Jason narrowed his eyes. "Why do you have this in your shower bag?"

Leo rubbed his arm again. "Well…"

_I guess it can't be helped_, he thought despairingly. _I'd have to let them know eventually…_

"Here's the thing," he began. "Remember how I said Nemesis would be taking my arm back after Gaea had been defeated?"

The boys nodded. "Has she warned you that she's about to take it back?" Frank ventured.

Leo shook his head. "She…never gave it back to begin with…Dad never convinced her to give it back—like that would ever happen! I just felt a little sensitive before when we were talking about my arm in the past tense…I've gotten used to it now, though, so I guess it's time you guys knew…"

_I knew he was hiding something,_ Jason thought, thinking back to when Leo had first told them of why he had his arm back. "So, are you saying that arm isn't real? Like a hologram? Because I've seen you pick stuff up and punch monsters with it, easily!"

Actually, now that he thought about it, that was unnatural. Leo had _actually_ gone up to a recently re-formed Ma Gasket during a fight and punched her right in the face with his left hand! One punch was all it took for her to explode into dust. Frank had commented later that the son of Hephaestus's left hook was something to behold. That only roused Jason's suspicions because Leo _never_ fought up close and personal. He always used something to do the fighting. Even his fire was mostly for distance fights. And even if the fight was brought to him, he always used a hammer. But his fist? Since when did Leo have that much strength to instantly make a monster dust?

Leo smiled sheepishly. He exhaled deeply before saying four words: "Chameleon Circuit Override Countermanded."

Percy—who had been closest to the son of Hephaestus—immediately jumped back when Leo's arm shimmered. At first, the image bent and swayed like a mirage lifting. Then it began to static, finally landing on a new image.

Where Leo's arm had been now resided a bronze, gold, and black robotic arm. Percy gasped. Frank stared.

Jason nodded. "I had a feeling it was something like that," he admitted.

Leo frowned at him. "You knew?"

"Dude," Jason said, coming closer and clapping Leo on the back. "I know _you_. I know when you're hiding something. When you flat-out lied to our faces about the arm, I let it go. I knew you would come out when you were ready. Of course, that didn't stop me from thinking about it. You humming the Inspector Gadget theme song was kind of a big hint. And another big hint was the punching monsters in the faces with that arm. When they exploded instantly, I had to wonder if there was some sort of precious metal hiding in your skin."

Leo smiled. "Ah…"

"Why hide that, though?" Frank asked. "It's super cool-looking!"

Leo shuffled his feet. "It was really hard for me to talk about my arm not being real at the time. I thought it would be easier to lie…"

Jason rubbed his back. "We would've helped you deal with it, you know."

"Nah, it's okay now!" Leo said, grinning like a madman. "I got a way to deal with stuff now. Helps a lot. I'll teach it to you guys one day."

"Was it really that hard to deal with?" Frank asked innocently. He couldn't imagine much getting under Leo's skin that easily.

Leo shrugged. "Yeah, kinda at first. But it's nothing I couldn't handle!" He grinned cheekily. "I'm not gonna let a missing arm slow me down!"

"Then why keep it hidden," Jason repeated.

"Well," Leo said, shuffling his feet again. "Okay, _at first_ it was hard to handle, so I felt the need to lie, but it got easier. That, and I guess I didn't want you guys to worry about me and my new arm during the big fight."

"I would have felt assured that we had such a cool weapon on our side, actually," Frank said, crossing his arms.

"Well, then, next time I lose a limb during a big quest to fight a primordial god and get a new robotic one, I'll tell you immediately!"

Frank fake-scowled at him as Jason and Leo laughed.

Percy interrupted. "Hey, I just thought of something." This was a totally legit question in his mind. "If you take a shower and/or bath with that arm will you short-circuit or will you rust?"

Leo gave him a withering look. "Neither, genius. Dad made me this arm. He made it special: Waterproof _and _fireproof. So, I think it can handle a shower and/or bath, don't you? The only reason I have to drop the chameleon circuit now is because it won't work in water. Trust me: I've tried."

"Sooo," Frank piped up. "What is it made of? I can't tell if it's Imperial Gold or Celestial Bronze."

Leo grinned. "Both! With Stygian Iron thrown in there to add extra coolness! Check out what I can do!"

He held out his robotic hand. A tube shot out of the middle of his palm and fire spewed forth.

"Big deal," Percy huffed, unimpressed. "You can already catch fire. A flamethrower's not that interesting…"

Leo smirked. He shut off the flamethrower and pointed a finger-gun at the son of Poseidon. "Go Go Gadget Water Pistol," he said, barely containing his laughter.

His pointer finger-tip opened to reveal another tube. High pressured water shot out of it and straight at Percy. Percy was so surprised he had forgotten he could control water until his face had been blasted about five times. All the while, Leo was making _pew pew_ noises. Frank and Jason laughed.

Leo held up his water-gun-hand and blew the steam off the tip of his finger. He glanced over at Jason. "I can do a Static Shock impersonation, too. Tiny bursts of electricity—not enough to damage anybody, just enough for start-ups and party tricks—can shoot from my ring finger."

Turning to Frank, he said smugly, "I can also override the chameleon circuit to make my arm look like the forearm of any animal I choose. I have all your guys' powers! Mwa Ha Ha!"

He grabbed the can of Ever-Oil from Percy as Frank and Jason kept snickering. Percy glared half-heartedly at the son of Hephaestus. "Those aren't powers. You're a copy-cat mechanic, is what you are!"

Leo grinned cheekily. "Guilty as charged."

He squirted the oil onto his real hand and rubbed it all over his automaton arm. Gods, it felt great to be oiled! Though that was a really weird thing for a human to think, he could see the appeal; it felt like rubbing Aloe over a harsh sunburn that made your body stiff. This kinda smelled, but it felt just as refreshing as a shower. Leo hadn't really oiled his aching joints in a couple days, so this was a long-overdue happiness.

"So, you really have to oil that arm?" Frank's voice brought him back to reality. Frank was staring at the Latino, cocking an eyebrow at his relaxed sigh as he rubbed the Ever-Oil all over his arm. He couldn't help but notice that the smell was just awful.

Leo smiled. "Yeah, downside to having an Edward Elric arm: I need to oil it regularly."

All three boys shook their heads as Leo continued his oiling.

"Why are you doing that now, anyway?" Jason asked. "You're gonna leak into the baths!"

Leo made a face. "It doesn't run in water once it's made contact with my arm. Specialized oil! I usually do it when I take a shower."

"Then can you hurry up?" Percy urged. "It's getting cold in here and I'm starting to feel a breeze!"

Leo finished and put the oil away, grabbing the rest of his toiletries. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, bath princess. Let's go find out who's bigger!"

Frank shook his head in embarrassment. "Can you just drop that?"

Leo grinned cheekily. "Not a chance!"

As they moved into the baths, Jason felt he couldn't drop the arm topic just yet. While they began to relax in the hot water, Jason turned to Leo.

"You ever gonna tell the girls?"

"Tell 'em what?"

"About your arm?"

Leo stared at him, confused for a second. Then he seemed to remember the conversation from earlier. He shrugged. "If the topic comes up, I guess…"

Percy rolled his eyes. "You mean you're just gonna leave them in the dark?"

"They'll get suspicious if you go on with your arm still attached," Frank added.

"Why would they do that?"

Frank facepalmed. _Gods, he's so dense sometimes!_ "You told us Nemesis would return to take your arm back, remember? If you go around with your arm disguised for too long, they're gonna start wondering."

"I can guarantee Annabeth will notice—she _always_ notices!" Percy pointed out, waving his hands around dramatically and splashing Jason.

Leo thought about it for a second. "Huh…I guess you're right…Then…" He rubbed his automaton arm self-consciously. "I guess I could just let the chameleon circuit recharge for a day or two and leave here _conveniently_ forgetting to reactivate it…"

Percy chuckled. "You're gonna give the girls a heart attack!"

Leo grinned evilly. "I bet their faces will be priceless!"

The boys all laughed. They went on to predict how each of the girls would react after they exited the baths, and how hard they might punch Leo for lying to them.

Leo didn't dread it. He regretted ever dreading telling his friends the truth in the first place. It wasn't like they would shun him for having a robotic arm. They were his friends. They wouldn't judge. They could handle it.

And that made Leo smile.

* * *

_**The end.**_

_**I'm not going to do a girls reveal, since it'll kinda just play out like this. You guys can use your imaginations on how the girls individually react :)**_

_**And this story is in no way, shape, or form connected to **_**Papi._  
_**

_**Peace out, loves!**_


End file.
